Playing a simul against strong grandmaster is usually a celebration for amateur chess player. There are some grandmasters in the category of legends and most chess players would like to play against them. I mean grandmasters like Kasparov, Karpov or… Korchnoi. If you will spend days in the middle of October somewhere in the Czech Republic, Europe, you have a chance!

There will be a weekend event called Chess Classic held in Spa Hotel Vráž. Two top grandmasters from older generation will participate. And as the title of this post speaks those players will be gentelmen Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi and Vlastimil Hort.

They will play two exhibitional games and on Saturday (October 16th) they will play a simul against interested chess amateurs. And (I must add) amateurs willing to pay about 2.000 EUR for a simul game against GM Korchnoi or 1.200 EUR for a simul game against GM Hort. The number of boards is limited – 6 for Mr. Korchnoi and 30 for Mr. Hort.

Do you play chess simul against strong players? Who was your most interesting opponent and what was the result your game?

And additional question – would you pay money for playing a simul against GM?

Photo source: Wikipedia

Black to move. What would your move be in this position? And why?

I mentioned the U.S. Women’s Chess Championship in a few posts here on the blog. I have covered some first rounds, but I have not let you know the final results. This post is here to fix it.

After great battles and nine rounds IM Irina Krush became the Women’s Chess Champion of the U.S. for 2010! She reached 8 points, only two draws and without a lost game! Performance 2686! Impressive result!

The second place was taken by Anna Zatonskih with 7.5 points. The same amount of points was grabed by Tatev Abrahamyan as well. She took the bronze medal for the third place.

Here is the final standing:
1. Irina Krush 8.0 points
2. Anna Zatonskih 7.5
3. Tatev Abrahamyan 7.5
4. Alisa Melekhina 4.5
5. Katerina Rohonyan 4.5
6. Camilla Baginskaite 4.0
7. Iryna Zenyuk 4.0
8. Sabina Foisor 3.0
9. Beatriz Marinello 1.5
10. Abby Marshall 1.0

White to move and win.

You may remember the Chess Miss Universe “competition” which was quite popular last year. It was not organised by me, but I like the idea so much that I decided to organise a virtual voting for the Miss of the US Chess Women’s Championship 2010.

Here are all participants’ photos and it is up to you to chose the most beautiful one among them.

I know it is hard, but I am sure you will be able to chose and vote in the form below ;)

Let us know who should be deserved by the title Miss of the US Chess Women’s Championship 2010!

Irina Krush	Anna Zatonskih
Tatev Abrahamyan	Camilla Baginskaite
Sabina Foisor	Alisa Melekhina
Katerina Rohonyan	Iryna Zenyuk
Abby Marshall	Beatriz Marinello

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All pictures are taken from the official site of the championship – http://www.uschesschamps.com/