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.

Emanuel Berg Hide

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.

Sergei Azarov Hide

“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.

Tromsø 2014 Hide

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.

Zoltan Gyimesi Hide

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)

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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