II ShakkiNet International 2000

News from the tournament

The tournament is over

The organizers move to Jyväskylä to play some chess themselves! :-) Thank You all for watching ShakkiNet!

18.7.2000: Solozhenkin wins GM-group

IMs Agopov and Sammalvuo from Finland tie for second place.

18.7.2000: Estonian IM's share first place in IM-group

1-2. IM Kiik, IM Seeman 7/9 3. FM Nouro 6.

18.7.2000: Last round, lots of short draws

Short draws are understandable, as the players are tired after eight rounds of tough fighting and Heart of Finland starts tomorrow in Jyväskylä.

18.7.2000: Decisive IM-norm for Nouro!

Mikael Agopov made his final norm in I ShakkiNet International in 1999, this year it was Mikael Nouro's turn.

17.7.2000: IM-norm for Mika Karttunen!

Our best congratulations to Mika Karttunen, who scored an IM norm with one round to go.

17.7.2000: White starts scoring big in GM group

GM Evgeniy Solozhenkin still leads, but Finnish players are not far before the last round.

17.7.2000: Favourites continue scoring in IM group

Estonian IMs Seeman and Kiik share the lead before the last round, in which they will play each other.

17.7.2000: Tournament statistics

Just a little tournament and player statistics after 7 rounds. There is no need for any kind of critics, as the draw percentage is very low.

17.7.2000: And then there were only four left ...

Two rounds to go, Agopov needs to win both for GM-result, Karttunen needs 1, Nouro 1,5 and Lampen 2 points for IM-norm.

16.7.2000: Agopov and Yrjölä narrow the gap

GM Solozhenkin loses to IM Sepp with white pieces and leads now by half a point.

16.7.2000: Estonian dominance in IM-group

IM Seeman and IM Kiik at their own league.

16.7.2000: Mika Häkkinen wins Austrian F1 race

Besides chess there are other Finnish sports news today: Austrian GP by formula1.com .

16.7.2000: Expected results available

The results needed for every player to keep their current ratings are available for both GM-group and IM-group .

15.7.2000: One must win and win to achieve the goal

Six still fighting but how many will make a norm? Three rounds left, Karttunen needs 2, Nouro 2,5 Lampen, Agopov, Sammalvuo and Mäki-Uuro 3/3

15.7.2000: A grandmaster draw in the top of the GM-group

GM Evgeniy Solozhenkin continues impressively by holding draw against GM Viktor Gavrikov with black pieces.

15.7.2000: Seeman leads IM-group alone

IM Tarvo Seeman from Estonia leads the tournament after IM Kalle Kiik was beaten by Mikael Nouro.

15.7.2000: Fighting for norms continues

Still eight players have a change: Karttunen needs 2,5/4, Lampen 3, Agopov, Nouro, Mäki-Uuro 3,5 Sammalvuo, Norri, Koskela 4

14.7.2000: Solozhenkin unstoppable

GM Evgeniy Solozhenkin from St. Petersburg is simply unstoppable at the moment. Today he scored already his fifth win against GM Jouni Yrjölä.

14.7.2000: Kalle Kiik continues his winning series

A round of tough fights in IM-group. IM Kalle Kiik from Estonia won his fourth game in a row, and leads the tournament with 4,5/5.

14.7.2000: Paparazzi style pictures from the tournament

Many kinds of players, many kinds of faces...

14.7.2000: Estonian IMs Seeman and Kiik continue winning

In IM-group Estonian players lead with 3,5/4, but at least three Finnish players still have good chances for IM norms.

14.7.2000: Solozhenkin and Yrjölä win again

Evgeniy Solozhenkin and Jouni Yrjölä have so far made the tournament difficult for norm seekers, as these two grandmasters lead the tournament after 4 rounds. In the fifth round, however, they will meet in the top game of the round.

12.7.2000: Black is ok in GM-group

In GM-group 3rd round continued with tough games. IM Sammalvuo and GM Yrjola continued black's impressive results by winning their games.

12.7.2000: Round of draws in IM-group

A collective warning to IM-group's player is relevant: four draws in the third round, from which three were even short ones.

11.7.2000: The second round with no draws

The fighting spirit of the players is great, as in the second round there were no draws in the GM-group. Joose Norri and Evgeniy Solozhenkin lead with 2 points.

11.7.2000: Pictures from the tournament

Mika Lako took some pictures from the playing hall. More to come soon.

10.7.2000: Tournament has started

The tournament has started, and already the 1st round had some surprise results. There were some technical problems with the website's game transmission, but they are now resolved and the LIVE games function well.

10.7.2000: A second player change at the last minute

Heikki Kallio from Finland cancelled his participation, and this resulted in two player changes. Mika Karttunen from IM group plays in GM tournament, and FM Timo Pirttimäki plays in IM group. Our best thanks for Timo being a reserve player.

7.7.2000: Player change

Kaido Kulaots from Estonia, who was supposed to play in GM group, has withdrawn. He is replaced by young Finnish player Sampsa Nyysti, who takes Kulaots' drawing number. Unfortunately this means that the category of the tournament can't be maintained, the new category is VIII with GM norm 7,0/9.

1.7.2000: The drawing of lots is ready

The drawing of lots was done by International Arbiter Timo Oksanen for both GM group and IM group. The round by round schedules are available: GM group match schedule and IM group match schedule.

28.6.2000: The July 2000 ELO-list for Finnish players is published.

1. IM Olli Salmensuu 2458, 2. IM Heikki Kallio 2451, 3. GM Jouni Yrjola 2442, 4. IM Marko Manninen 2428, 5. IM Jussi Tella 2428. Ladies: 1. WIM Johanna Paasikangas-Tella 2301, 2. WIM Niina Koskela 2191, 3. WFM Tanja Rantanen 2120.

25.6.2000: Finnish championship tournament 2000

Aleksei Holmsten won the Finnish championship tournament, which was played 9-21.6.2000 in the House of Chess in Helsinki. Results and games of the tournament as well as pictures from the playing hall are available.

19.6.2000: Player lists of GM- and IM-group confirmed

GM-group is going to category IX, with GM-norm 6,5/9. IM-group is category IV, IM-norm 6,0/9.