Doeberl Cup, Sydney International, Thailand Open
Three tournaments within 1st and 20th April, 2010
Presented by Chessdom

Three tournaments from Australia and Thailand have joined forces to establish a common schedule and allow interested players to combine participation in consecutive events.

The Doeberl Cup is held in Canberra, Australia, over Easter each year attracting a field of over 200 players. There are five separate tournaments each year. The Premier tournament runs for 9 FIDE rated rounds and has had titled players from Australia, Russia, India, Ukraine, Israel, Spain, Hungary, Serbia, Ecuador and the Philippines.

The 7 round FIDE rated Major tournament is for players with an ACF rating between 1400 and 2000. Equally the 7 round Minor covers players up to a rating of 1600. In addition, there are also a 7 round 50+ tournament and a 6 round (60+10) tournament running for two days for under 1200 rated players.

This year the Doeberl Cup is running from 1st until 5th April. An A$17,850 prize money pool is on offer. Round 9 of the Premier Tournament will include a Fighting Chess Fund valued at $1000. Players are only eligible to participate in the Fighting Fund if they have not recorded a draw in less than 30 moves for the tournament.

Varuzhan Akobian won the 2008 Doeberl Cup, while Indian IM Deep Sengupta claimed the 2009 Doeberl Cup.

Full information on the official website

The Sydney International Open begins in Sydney Australia following a rest day after the Doeberl Cup. There are two 9-round tournaments across the 5 day period, the Open which allows all players to enter or the Sydney International Challengers which is designed for players rated under 2000.

Currently the top seeded players are: the defending champion GM Zhao Zong-Yuan (2592 AUS), GM Malaniuk Vladimir (2582 UKR), GM Jones Gawain (2556 ENG), GM Panchanathan Magesh Chandran (2543 IND), GM Smerdon David (2530 AUS), GM Kunte Abhijit (2528 IND), GM Bojkov Dejan (2505 BUL), GM Barua Dipyendu (2479 IND), IM Macak Stefan (2470 SLO), IM Xie George (2470 AUS), GM Johansen Darryl (2457 AUS) etc…

The tournament runs on 6-11 April 2010 and the prize fund is totalling A$14,000. More information on the official website.

The 10th BCC Thailand Open Chess Tournament is closing the mini-tour. The venue is the Grand Ballroom in the luxurious Century Park Hotel, Bangkok, and the tournament will take place during Thailand’s Songkran holidays, 14-20 April 2010.

There are two groups of play: Open category for all players, and Challenger category restricted to players rated below 2100 or unrated (ratings based on FIDE or Thai ELO ratings – other national ratings will be validated by the organizer). When registering, players must indicate in which group they wish to play. Both groups will be played using the Swiss System, with 9 rounds for Open, and 7 rounds for Challenger.

Up to now, 77 players are registered, among which top rated are: GM Thomas Luther (GER 2577), GM Rasul Ibrahimov (AZE 2550), IM Dzhurabek Khamrakulov (UZB 2509), GM Nana Dzagnidze (GEO 2506), GM Mikhail M. Ivanov (RUS 2465), IM Oliver Barbosa (PHI 2452), IM Roberto Mogranzini (ITA 2415), IM Prathamesh Sunil Mokal (IND 2403), IM Saptarshi Roy (IND 2402), IM Tirto Tirto (INA 2402), IM Simon T. Ansell (ENG 2381), GM Hans-Joachim Hecht (GER 2381), WGM Vera Nebolsina (RUS 2310), WGM Sarai Sanchez Castillo (VEN 2263) etc

More details on the tournament can be found at the Bangkok Chess Club website

Posted by Picasa
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Tags: , ,