Editor's Note

August Top 50 lists
Now includes Top 50 Correspondence and Quick Chess Players

Corr Chess News
for June

Scholastic News
for April

New! GM Analysis
GM Larry Christiansen, one of the country's top players, will be contributing indepth news and analysis of critical events in the international chess world. He provides coverage of the early rounds of the FIDE World Championship Tournament in this week's Analysis Feature.

International News Briefs

FIDE World Championship Tournament in Las Vegas: Down to 4
Standings as of August 16: We're down to 4 players as we enter the Semi-Finals. All 9 Americans have been eliminated. The players remaining are: Adams (ENG, 2708), Akopian (ARM, 2646) , Khalifman (RUS, 2628), and Nispeanu (ROM, 2584). All 4 are Grandmasters. This week will see Rounds 6, when the format changes to longer 4 game mini-matches.

For the latest on the FIDE World Championship Tournament in Las Vegas, including daily summary reports, see our Special Feature Section. GM Michael Rohde will be providing live commentary for at least two games each playing day during the event on the US Chess Federation site at www.uschess.org/news/world99/. We'll also be providing daily summary results and links to all results on our Current Results Page. FIDE is providing official press releases and player interviews, and GM Christiansen is providing occasional feature analysis. For official FIDE coverage, see the FIDE Website for the event.

Many Western chess fans have heard little of Akopian and Nisipeanu prior to this event. Akopian has been a junior World Champion 3 times, under 16, under 18, and under 20. He is now 27 and is rated 2646. Armenia is a country with a long chess tradition, and produced World Champion Petrosian. (GM Garry Kasparov is also half-Armenian.) Akopian has been a Grandmaster for about 8 years, and was seed #31 into this event.

GM Nisipeanu turned 23 years old on August 1st. His current rating prior to this event was 2584. (He has been rated as high as 2600). He has had good results in international tournaments, tieing for 3rd or 4th in some important events, including the 36th Gronigen where he achieved the same score as Tiviakov and Miles, with a performance rating of 2681. He became a Grandmaster just two years ago. He was seeded #46 of the 100 players in the event.

GM Khalifman of Russia, 2628 is better known, having been a Grandmaster for about 10 years. He was already a top 10 player in 1990 when he won the strong New York Open. He has been a top 50 world player throughout the 90s. He is 33 years old and is an active player on the international circuit. He was the #36 seed for this event.

GM Mickey Adams of England was a chess prodigy in the West, achieving his Grandmaster title at the age of 17 and winning the British Championship in the same year. He is now 27. He has competed for England in many international events. In 1990 he scored equal first with Khalifman and Piket at the Groningen tournament. In the 1997 FIDE World Championship Tournament, he reached the Semi Finals, where he was eliminated by Viswanathan Anand of India. He has been a top 10 world player for several years, and was the #5 seed in this event.

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Recent USA News

US News Briefs

Countdown to 1999 Interplay US Championships
This invitational event for the top US players will be held in Salt Lake City . For more information, see the Feature Section. Live commentary will be provided for at least two games during each round of the event by GM Michael Rohde.

100th US Open underway in Reno
The 100th US Open Championship takes place this August in Reno, Nevada, August 10 - 19. The USCF Delegate Meeting will be held at the same time. We'll provide updates on the event in our Feature Section. For full information, see the Official Website.

USCF Elections
The uncertified ballot count is now available online in our Governance Section. Look at the bottom of the section for the link to the most current information.

Denker Tournament of High School Champions in Reno
Concurrently with the US Open, the Denker Tournament of High School champions is underway in Reno. Invitations are sent to the top high school champion for each state. Among the 34 high school champions participating are the new US Junior Champion, Marcel Martinez of Florida, and the 1999 National High School Open champion, Patrick Hummel of Nevada. Among the prizes for the winner are a chess scholarship from the University of Texas at Dallas. Information and crosstable are available in our Denker Feature Section.

August Top 50 Lists
The August Top 50 Lists have been released. This includes the US Chess Federation's lists of top 50 active players in many different categories, including age groups, correspondence chess, and quick chess. On the Overall list, GM Boris Gulko retains the #1 spot, with GM Yasser Seirawan moving into second place. For full details, see the Top 50 Lists section.

August Tournaments
Looking for a tournament you can play in? Check the TLAs (Tournament Life Announcements) for the August and September events. Most are open to all USCF members. Note in particular the number of State Championships that will be held over Labor Day weekend. Check out our Monthly Events Calendar to see all events of 15 Grand Prix Points or higher, or go directly to the Tournament Life Section.

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