Bergamo head of the (chess) world

Latin people would say: "Bergamo caput mundi". The 6th International chess open will start in my home town on Friday morning. As I wrote in a previous post, this should be the strongest edition ever; there will probably be more than 120 participants, with eight GMs and two wGMs among them.

A press conference with Fabio Rustico (city council member and former football player), Gianpietro Pagnoncelli (president of Italian chess federation), Gianvittorio Perico, Felice Scarpellini, Valdo Eynard, Ettore Maffi (organizers) and Pierluigi Pizzaballa (member of Antoniana sport association and former goalkeeper of Atalanta football club) was held in Bergamo’s town hall this morning: they showed all peculiarities of the tournament and they are sure the present edition will be a great success. If you want to read more about the tourney you can read my previous post at http://midaschess.blogspot.com/2007/06/bergamo-tourney-you-will-remember.html. A full list of pre-registered players can be read at http://www.chesslab.bergamo.it/PREISCRITTIA07.PDF.
An even stronger tournament will take place in Castione della Presolana, 40 chilometers from Bergamo, at the end of August (23-31), as usual. More than 40 titled players (GMs and IMs) will play and this means the present edition will be the strongest ever (as for Bergamo open). Here are some names (exclusive news for Mida’s Chess Corner readers :-) ): Konstantin Landa (RUS – 2669), Sergei Tiviakov (NED – 2648), Igor Khenkin (GER – 2602), Vladimir Epishin (RUS – 2587), Vladimir Burmakin (RUS – 2581), Csaba Horvath (HUN – 2558), Erald Dervishi (ALB – 2553), Michele Godena (ITA – 2547), Miso Cebalo (CRO – 2533), Alberto David (LUX – 2529), Gyula Sax (HUN – 2522), Pawel Jaracz (BUL – 2495), Marko Tratar (SLO – 2491), Michael Hoffman (GER – 2481), Sabino Brunello (ITA – 2475), Giorgi Bagaturov (GEO – 2474), Jacob Aagaard (SCO - 2467), etc. Many collateral events will take place along the tournament (even a magician exhibition!), so don't miss that! Castione is a mountain and tourist place: your family won't get bored. Official site: www.scaccobratto.com.
The U20 and Female Italian championship has started today in Fiuggi. Top rated players in the U20 event: IM Sabino Brunello (2475), FM Niccolò Ronchetti (2410), FM Denis Rombaldoni (2383), FM Danyyl Dvirnyy (2365), FM Giuseppe Lettieri (2293), Axel Rombaldoni (2269 - Italian U16 champion). Top rated players in the Female event: wFM Maria De Rosa (2085), Marianna Arnetta (2032), wFM Marianna Chierici (2004), Fiammetta Panella (1968), Roberta Brunello (1957 - last year winner). Official site: http://www.fiuggiscacchi.eu/.
Here are some news from Fide at last. The FIDE Ethics Commission is to hold a public hearing on July 28, 2007, in Athens, Greece, to rule on the accusations leveled by Veselin Topalov and his manager Silvio Danailov against Vladimir Kramnik during the 2006 World Championship match in Elista, Kalmykia, and against the organisers of the World Championship and the Fide President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in an interview with the Spanish news service ABC. You can read the full statement made by Roberto Rivello, Italian master and chairman of the Fide Ethics Commission, at http://www.fide.com/news/download/Ethic-Topalov.pdf.