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1. 07. 2009
World class in Zurich – Morozevich and Hou Yifan
at the Jubilee-Open of Schachgesellschaft Zürich
World class chess players will compete at the Schachgesellschaft Zürich's Jubilee-Open from 9 to 15 August 2009 at the Kongresshaus.
New on the participant's list are Alexander Morozevich, highly regarded for his spectacular and unorthodox playing style, and Chinese prodigy Hou Yifan.
The chess club's jubilee events culminate in the Champions Simultan and the Champions Rapid on 22/23 August, when World Champions like Anand and Kasparov will play at Zurich Main Station.
Alexander Morozevich, 31-year-old Muscovite chess wizard, is the top candidate at the Alois Nagler Memorial, the Master Tournament of the Jubilee-Open. He participated already twice at the FIDE World Chess Championship and heads an array of grandmasters at the Zurich event. Among them are two 15-year-olds: the Chinese Hou Yifan, 3rd on the women's world ranking list and Women's World Chess Vice Champion, and Anish Giri, the world's youngest grandmaster. Experienced players like Alexey Dreev, Artur Yusupov and Lajos Portisch, who played at the World Championship Candidates Tournaments in the past, will also be competing. 199 players appear on the participant's list of the Alois Nagler Memorial, which is endowed with CHF 75'000 in prize money by the Alois Nagler Foundation.
The Accentus (Swiss Chess) Open, the general tournament for players with 2050 ELO or less, enjoys great popularity also. 146 players have registered already, among them many juniors and seniors. They will compete for many attractive prizes awarded to the 16 best contestants, and to the best in their age- and rating-group. Single prizes will be as high as CHF 4'000, the total summoning up to CHF 25'000, all donated by Accentus (Swiss Chess).
Tournament organiser Georg Kradolfer expects 500-600 players altogether. The Jubilee-Open will therefore be one of the big chess events of this year. To offer good playing conditions to all participants, the tournament will not take place as planned in the Garden Room, but at the bigger Convention Hall of Kongresshaus Zürich.
To register for the Jubilee-Open online and for further information concerning the Schachgesellschaft Zürich's Jubilee-Open please visit
this page
24. 06. 2009
Last Chance – play against a World Chess Champion!
© Chessbase
On 30 June 2009 the Champion Simultan's quiz will end. 100 chess enthusiasts will be picked from those who answer the 10 competition questions correctly. At Zurich Main Station on 22 August 2009 they will play against Viswanathan Anand, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Viktor Korchnoi, Vladimir Kramnik, Boris Spassky, Ruslan Ponomariov or Veselin Topalov. Each of these champions will take on 25 amateurs – 200 matches to represent each year of the Schachgesellschaft Zürich, which was founded in 1809.
Each champion's first two games will be broadcast live on the Internet.
The information needed to fill in the questionnaire is publicly available. The answers are also provided in
Richard Forster's commemorative book
«Schachgesellschaft Zürich: 1809 bis 2009»
18. 06. 2009
The World's Youngest Grandmaster at the Jubilee-Open
Anish Giri
the world's youngest grandmaster, will contribute to making the Jubilee-Open a spectacular chess event. Born 1994, Giri became a chess grandmaster in February 2009
meeting his final norm in Wijk ann Zee.
His fellow grandmaster Andor Lilienthal (born 1911), the world's oldest grandmaster, used to play against Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine!
Including Anish Giri, more than 300 players already signed up for the Jubilee-Open, among them many players with titles. Georg Kradolfer, organiser of the Jubilee-Open, expects 500-600 players altogether (Master Tournament «Alois Nagler Memorial», General Tournament «Accentus (Swiss Chess) Open»). Therefore the Jubilee-Open will be held in the Kongresshaus Zürich's Convention Hall, not in the smaller Garden Room as planned before.
08. 06. 2009
Of Mice and Men - Presentation of Jubilee Book: «Schachgesellschaft Zürich: 1809 bis 2009»
Richard Forster presented his new book «Schachgesellschaft Zürich: 1809 bis 2009» in front of a large audience at the Forum St. Peter of Credit Suisse on 6 June. He highlighted some of the essential questions of the volume, e.g. «For which reasons did the Schachgesellschaft Zurich become the world's oldest chess club?» Forster didn't want to provide a final answer. Of vital importance may have been the medium size of the city. But, according to the author, it was certainly the fortunate fact, that many enthusiastic club members volunteered their time and effort, that kept the club going over many years.
Pictures of the event
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Pictures of the event
Richard Forster signs his book to the SGZ-Jubilee
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Martin Forster, Philipp Hänggi
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Jürg Nievergelt, Joachim Rosenthal
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Alex Crisovan, William Wirth, Lucas Brunner
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Betty Hildebrand, Alex Crisovan
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Hugo Werren, Anne Röthlin
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William Wirth, Lucas Brunner
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Meinrad Suter
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Large crowd at Forum St. Peter
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Zivica Milicev, Dragomir Vucenovic, Hans Karl
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Beat Rüeggsegger
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Georg Maas, Erwin Schuler
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Dieter Keller, Andre Lombard, Edgar Walther
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Author Richard Forster
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Meinrad Suter (Public Records Office Zurich) pronounced the author «Mouse of the Archive» – a great honour for any archivist, since «Archive Mice» eat away at only the very best of an archive's documents. And this is exactly what Richard Forster has done. His book «Schachgesellschaft Zürich: 1809 bis 2009» documents it beautifully. Numerous listeners acquired a signed copy and a reception completed the event.
To order a copy of Richard Forster's «Schachgesellschaft Zürich: 1809 bis 2009» go to
Book to the SGZ -History
on this site.
8. 06. 2009
200th Annual Meeting of Schachgesellschaft Zurich
The Schachgesellschaft Zurich held its annual meeting at Credit Suisse's Forum St. Peter on Saturday, 6 June. Nearly half of the club's 91 members attended – among them many notables as well as former and present day contestants like Alex Crisovan, Edgar Walther, Josef Kupper, Dieter Keller, and Jonathan Rosenthal.
Pictures of the event
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Pictures of the event
President Christian Issler
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Harry Siegfried
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Mr. and Mrs. Josef Kupper
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Former day contestants>
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Heinz Zysset / André Berset
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Edgar Walther / Dieter Keller>
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They all listened attentively to President Christian Issler presenting information regarding the many positive results of the past season. To marvel at was the champion's cup, awarded to the first team of the club this anniversary year for the 22nd time (Swiss Team Championship).
28. 05. 2009
Compete against a World Chess Champion using Richard Forster's new book about the Schachgesellschaft Zürich
Contestants who would like to compete in the simultaneous exhibition taking place at the Schachgesellschaft Zürich's jubilee must correctly answer several quiz questions. Richard Forster's recently published book «Schachgesellschaft Zürich: 1809 bis 2009» holds the treasured information contestants will seek in answering these tricky questions. In addition to the Champions Simultan, the jubilee events include a world-class open tournament from 9 to 15 August and the champions' rapid chess tournament on 23 August.
The quiz competition will run until 30 June. Of those contestants who answer all 10 competition questions correctly, 100 chess enthusiasts will be chosen to participate.
At the champions' simultaneous exhibition on 22 August 2009 they will play against chess legends Viswanathan Anand, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Viktor Korchnoi, Vladimir Kramnik,
Boris Spassky, Ruslan Ponomariov and Veselin Topalov. The quiz can be completed online at
www.sgzurich2009.ch.
Richard Forster's jubilee book «Schachgesellschaft Zürich: 1809 bis 2009» is, of course, more than just an aid to win this competition. It is a worthy successor to Forster's enthusiastically acclaimed biography on Amos Burn. In 576 pages the author presents the world's oldest chess club. He meticulously recounts two centuries of chess in Zurich and, more generally, in Switzerland, whilst focussing on milestones in the history of the Schachgesellschaft Zürich. The book includes notes on 608 club notables, as well as a full account of the most important tournaments of the Schachgesellschaft which attracted some of the world's best chess players to Zurich. In addition, more than 500 diagrams allow readers to follow chess games step by step and enjoy some true masterpieces of chess. Amongst others, Forster, an International Master himself, analyses Edgar Walther's 1959 game against Bobby Fischer. The future World Champion Fischer later included it in his «60 Memorable Games.» More than 300 pictures, several lists of honour, charts and a detailed index complete the jubilee book. «Schachgesellschaft Zürich: 1809 bis 2009» is a rich, valuable source of information for chess enthusiasts and anyone interested in history alike.
To order Richard Forster's jubilee book at the price of CHF 60.00 plus shipping and handling,
email info@sgzurich2009.ch.
At present the volume is only available in German.
Please visit www.sgzurich2009.ch for further information about the Schachgesellschaft Zürich's jubilee.
13. 05. 2009
Jubilee-Open is getting bigger, by quantity as well as quality
200 participants already have registered for the Jubilee-Open - and there are still 12 weeks left until the tournament will start. Consisting of the Alois Nagler Memorial (Master Tournament) and the Accentus (Swiss Chess) Open (General Tournament), the Jubilee-Open for sure will be one of the biggest chess events in 2009, by quantity as well as quality. To date 28 grandmasters have signed up for the Master Tournament, among them eight players with an Elo ranking above 2650, in addition to over 30 players with titles. It will be highly exciting to watch how "young guns" like Alexander Areshchenko (*1986) and Georg Meier (*1987) on the one hand and experienced former world-class players like Ulf Andersson, Artur Jussupow and Lajos Portisch on the other hand will perform.
02. 04. 2009
Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity to Play Against a World Champion at the Schachgesellschaft Zürich's Jubilee!
The celebrations in August 2009 to mark the 200th anniversary of the Schachgesellschaft Zürich will be a dream come true for a few chess players. The world's oldest chess club is offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at the simultaneous exhibition at Zurich Main Station on 22 August: 100 chess enthusiasts will get the chance to cross swords with champions such as Kasparov or Anand in simultaneous games. Taking place alongside this event are an open tournament featuring a world-class line-up, which is being held from 9 to 15 August, and the Champions Rapid, the rapid chess tournament on 23 August.
100 chess enthusiasts will be picked from those who answer the 10 competition questions correctly and will be given the chance to fulfill their dreams. On 22 August 2009, they will play at Zurich Main Station in the Champions Simultan against a World Chess Champion: Viswanathan Anand, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Viktor Korchnoi, Vladimir Kramnik, Boris Spassky, Ruslan Ponomariov, Veselin Topalov - each of these players will take on 25 amateurs. 200 matches to represent each year of the Schachgesellschaft Zürich, which was founded in 1809. 16 simultaneous matches - each champion's first two games - will be broadcast live on the Internet.
All information regarding the competition can be found in the recently published official jubilee programme, which is available for download at
www.sgzurich2009.ch
The programme also contains information on the Champions Rapid - the rapid chess tournament for the champions - starting on 23 August, the Jubilee-Open
from 9 to 15 August as well as the history of the world's oldest chess club. Richard Forster's book entitled «Die Schachgesellschaft Zürich. 1809 bis 2009",
which outlines the club's history, will be appearing from the end of May to commemorate the jubilee.
The Jubilee-Open at the Kongresshaus Zurich is set to welcome an extraordinarily high-class line-up. In the Alois Nagler Memorial (master tournament)
and in the Accentus (Swiss Chess) Open - the general tournament - players ranging from beginners to world-class players will fight it out for a total of 100,000 Swiss Francs
in prize money. 16 grandmasters have already registered, including the opening specialist and former World Championship Candidate Alexey Dreev.
Many grandmasters have already expressed interest in taking part in the competition, including super-grandmasters who have an Elo rating of over 2700.
Entrants have until 4 August to register for the Jubilee-Open; the easiest way to do this is to fill in the
online form on the jubilee website at www.sgzurich2009.ch.
Please visit
www.sgzurich2009.ch
for further information about the Schachgesellschaft Zürich's jubilee.
Co-Sponsor
Partners
Patronage
Alois Nagler Stiftung