Ikaros Chess Festival 2008
Strong field at the Aegean Open Championship 2008
This year’s Aegean Open Championship 2008, the main event of the Ikaros Chess Festival 2008, is expected to be a quite strong and interesting tournament that will take place from 12th till 20th of July 2008 at Aghios Kirykos, the capital of Ikaria island in Greece. So far the following strong players have confirmed their participation:
Evgeny Postny (GM, ISR, 2649), Christodoulos Banikas (GM, GRE, 2600), Andrey Rychagov (GM, RUS, 2565), Robert Markus (GM, SRB, 2557), Alexander Shneider (GM, UKR, 2537), Giannis Nikolaidis (GM, GRE, 2516), Sergey Zagrebelny (GM, UZB, 2480), Krum Georgiev (GM, BUL, 2452), Shojat Ghane (GM, IRN, 2424), Petar Velikov (GM, BUL, 2414), Thomas Henrichs (IM, GER, 2497), Sebastian Siebrecht (IM, GER, 2490), Nikolov Momchil (IM, BUL, 2488), Bjorn Brinck-Claussen, (DEN, IM, 2306)
Among the female players the field is also quite interesting:
Irina Zakurdjaeva (WGM, RUS, 2296), Darja Kaps (WGM, SLO, 2287), Ana Srebrnic (WGM, SLO, 2283), Yana Melnikova (WGM, RUS, 2259), Elitsa Raeva (WFM, BUL, 2258), Olga Dolzhikova (WGM, UKR, 2256), Liubov Kostiukova (IM, UKR, 2247)
As in the 2007 edition of the tournament, Ikaros Chess Festival 2008 is a very good choice for all chess players due to the beauty of the island of Ikaria itself that is ideal for relaxing family vacations without lacking the well known Greek island nightlife, the low cost accommodation package that the organization committee offers to the participants (250 Euros per person including ferry tickets, accommodation, and entrance fee, special discounts are available for junior players, families and club teams) and, of course, the friendly and relaxing atmosphere of the tournament that converts Aghios Kirykos to a pure chess vacation site.
Source: http://previews.chessdom.com/ikaros-chess-festival-2008
It’s a beautiful island. I hope the chess is as good.