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There are still spots left in Women’s World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk 50-board simultaneous exhibition at the Burt Lerner National Elementary Championships (Atlanta, GA, May 7-9).

The Kosteniuk simul begins at 9 AM EST on Friday, May 7th and the Entry Fee is $40. You can sign up at the USCF store now for the event and the simul. The National K-12 Championships Kosteniuk simul sold out quickly, so don’t wait! Kosteniuk will also sign her books at the event including her latest, “Diary of a Chess Queen” which you can pick up at USCF Sales. Or go to chessqueen.com for an autographed copy.

The Elementary Nationals will also host a FIDE Trainers Seminar for Women , which you can read more about on Kosteniuk’s blog.

Kosteniuk is getting busy with simuls. See a PR on another simul by Kosteniuk in conjunction with the Space Coast Open (April 23-25, Indialantic, FL.) The simul will be held on Alexandra’s 26th birthday, April 24. See the full announcement on the press section of uschess.org.

Over 150 enthusiastic young chess players came to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Northbrook the weekend of February 27-28 to play in the Greater Chicago Scholastic Chess Championships. The kids and their families came from Chicago, the suburbs and all over Illinois, neighboring Wisconsin and Indiana, and even as far as Colorado and Maryland to compete for the beautiful and gigantic trophies for the top teams and individuals. Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation and the Kasparov Chess Foundation sponsored the event, modeled after the long-running successful New York tournament with the same format. This is the first time the event has been held in the Chicago area. (more…)

Another year has elapsed. How time goes! The Chess Drum has now been in existence for nine years and has since served as the primary reservoir for content featuring players of African descent. Of course, the site also covers important event and has a worldwide audience in over 200 countries and territories with over 8,000 pages.

Source: Dr. Daaim Shabazz

Fellow Chess Enthusiasts:

Haitian Tragedy

You are most certainly aware of the tragedy that has beset the nation of Haiti. A nation of a proud history and a nation sharing the love of our royal game of chess. Less than a week ago, a massive earthquake leveled the capitol city of Port au Prince, devastating the population of nearly 10 million. Some project that 100,000-200,000 will have perished from the disaster.

The initial rescue efforts have been difficult as teams are hampered by lack of supplies and a broken infrastructure. Bodies litter the streets and are being bulldozed into mass graves before being identified. Hospitals are understaffed, tension is rising and the nation could explode into chaos before long.

In 2006, I met the Haitian team at the Olympiad in their first trip to the bienniel chess festival since 1996. They were friendly, in high spirits and were actually part of the photo-op with the host Italian team in round #1. Since that time, disaster has struck the island not once, not twice, but several times. A series of hurricanes prevented the Haitian team from traveling to Dresden for the 2008 Olympiad. Now before the 2010 Olympiad, the nation is hit with another crushing blow.

As contributions are flowing in, there are thousands of groups lending their time and money to help the beleagured nation. There has not been a great deal of attention of this crisis on chess sites and thus far, no official statement or show of moral support has been posted on FIDE’s website. This is unacceptable.

Haiti is like many small federations… a handful of dedicated individuals with the bulk of the players being very young. Since 2006, Haiti has found a degree of success with the founding of the Academie d’Echecs under the leadership of Sabine Bonnet.

Hikaru Nakamura is leading the US Delegation in the World Team Championships.  He has been building up his internation activity and this time has beaten the World’s number 6 player Grandmaster Boris Gelfand.

US Champion Hikaru Nakamura’s incredible round five win in the World Team Championship over World Cup Champion Boris Gelfand was featured on venues such as chessbase.com, Ben Finegold’s Blog , chessninja , The Week in Chess and IM Ginsburg’s blog. Now CLO readers are treated to GM Hikaru Nakamura’s own analysis. At the time of writing, the US team is tied for the lead with Russia after six rounds.

To replay the game and others from this event click here.

Merry Christmas to all.  This holiday season promises to be full of chess events just like years past.  However, this

year we have a couple of special events.  The London Classic currently in progress is truly an exciting tournament with several players to watch including our own Hikaru Nakamura.  We are looking forward to seeing Nakamura’s game against both Kramnik and Carlsen.

Stateside, there are plenty of tournaments taking place around the country.  Get out and enjoy yourself in a weekend

tournament.  This year, pass on a chess set as a gift.

Did you expect such an epic tie break and that you would have a hockey score at the end?

•  How could one expect this? Of course, the tie breaks were very tough for me, as well as for my opponent. In classical round I won one game, and easily. The second game was also not bad. Well, I got worse end game, but I was sure I could manage a draw. But I blundered at one point and the tie break history began. I had to balance and catch up all four games, two times with black. But what is strange: I always knew that all will be alright. I think by the end of the day I was luckier because of my physical shape. I do a lot of physical trainings lately. Even here, in Khanty, I don’t miss my trainings, I work out, I swim, I go to sauna and only then I come to play. Obviously I was in a bit better sporty shape.

•  As famous proverb says Mens Sana in Corpora Sano?

•  Exactly. In principle, an answer to a question if chess is sport is very clear for me. Of course yes! Professional chess players are always under stress. Without good sporty shape you will not survive.

Alena Kats (Girls Under 14) and Tanuj Vasudeva (Under 8 Open) both have perfect 3/3s at the World Youth in Antalya, Turkey, which runs from November 11-23. Tanuj was on the cover of the latest CL4k as “Mr.Perfect” and wrote on his blog, Tanuj’s Chess Chronicles “Thanks to Chess Life 4 Kids Editor, Glenn (Peterson) for the new moniker.” So far the label is sticking! We also have two players standing strong with 2.5/3, Tommy He and David Adelberg. But in this 11-round tournament, no one can be counted out.

UPDATE: Tanuj remains perfect after four rounds! He’s the only American with a perfect score as Alena Kats, unfortunately, lost.

The US team scored 13.5/25 today. See full squad scores below. Follow the action on the official website and chessdom.com. The live game link shows top boards from each section.

Tanuj is also blogging about his experience here.