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New Year, New Tournament

We ring in 2009 with a new tournament on the international calendar, as the Aker Chess Challenge (the main event of the Gjovik International Festival) runs January 2-5, in Gjovik, Norway.

The four superstars in action for this inaugural event include: Local hero Magnus Carlsen, five-time Russian champion Peter Svidler, American ace Hikaru Nakamura, and Kjetil Lie of Norway.

The Aker Chess Challenge is similar in style to the annual Mainz Chess Classic, with a double round tournament followed by final and bronze final. The tournament ended not unsurprisingly in a three-way tie on 4/6 between top three Carlsen, Svidler and Nakamura, with the American losing out in the blitz playoff for the final, though did have the conciliation of bronze by easily beating Lie.

But the final didn’t exactly go to script for the enthusiastic locals, with Svidler beating home favourite Carlsen 1.5-0.5, after the latter erred badly in the decisive second game.

Chess.FM's Macauley Peterson is in Gjovik to cover the event for ICC - and you don't want to miss his video reports on all the action and interviews that can be found now at the Chess.FM Blog.

En Passant: IM Mark Diesen (1957-2008)

ICC was saddened to hear that IM Mark Diesen died suddenly prior to Christmas, aged 51, in Conroe, Texas. A former native of Buffalo, New York, Mark was a World Junior Chess Champion in 1976, the US Junior Co-Champion, the Louisiana State Champion in 1986, 1987, 1988, Texas State Champion, Southwestern Open Champion, and an active chess coach in Houston. He was active here also on ICC under the username "Diesen", both as a player and a former Chess.FM lecturer.

Our thoughts at this time are with his wife, Melinda, and daughters Gina, Amy and Sarah. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the U.S. Chess Trust, PO Box 838, Wallkill, NY 12589, 800-388-5464.

Jorge Sammour-Hasbun

In another seasonal special for ICC, two-time Dos Hermanas winner, Jorge Sammour-Hasbun, brings us two instructive videos to help improve your blitz skills and endgame knowledge.

Jorge is unquestionably one of the top dogs on ICC for blitz, as his phenomenal successes in winning the last two Dos Hermanas tournaments ably demonstrate. And in Improve Your Blitz (60 min), Jorge shows you all the little tricks and tips that will make you a better blitz player. His second video, Middlegame to Endgame (35 min), shows you how best to take a middlegame advantage through to a won endgame using a simple technique.

Regular ICC Events

ICC Newsletter I

January 2, 2009

In this issue: New Year - New Tournament, En Passant: IM Mark Diesen (1957-2008), Chess.FM videos, and the ICC Store.

All events are free to ICC members unless noted. All times are Eastern Standard Time. Add 5 hours for GMT. Add 6 hours for CET.

Wednesday, January 07
	00:45	Tournament Sleepless - 3 tournaments, 5 rounds of 3 0
	07:00	Tournament Early Morning - 7 rounds of 3 1
	07:00	Simul 30 30 ch 71 Im Alejo de Dovitiis
	10:00	Tournament Cronos Challenge - 8 rounds of 1 0
	11:30	Tournament WeekDay Series - 5 rounds of 5 0
	13:00	Tournament WeekDay Series - 5 rounds of 5 0
	14:15	Tournament Slomato 4 Rounds of 20 0
	15:00	Webcast Attack with LarryC! video series
	18:00	Simul 45 10 ch 71 FM Mussanti
	18:00	Tournament Slomato 5 Rounds 15 0
	23:00	Tournament Nightly U1500 - 5 rounds of 2 6
	23:00	Tournament Nightly O1500 - 7 rounds of 5 0

View this week's entire event list

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— The Sunday Telegraph (London)

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