ICC News Item #1339

NEWS 1339 (6-Mar-00)
GM Wojtkiewicz wins record-setting OZ.COM Qualifier!

Grandmaster Alex Wojtkiewicz won first prize ahead of 62 other
Grandmasters in the record-setting OZ.COM Qualifier played on
CHESSCLUB.COM on March 5.  After tying with GM Kempinsky, also
from Poland, with 8 out of 9 points, Wojtkiewicz won the playoff
with a score of three games to one.  He won $500 and a trip to
Iceland to play in the "Top of the World" tournament April 1-2
with GM Kasparov, Anand, Timman, Korchnoi, Sokolov and six
Icelandic GMs.

GM Nigel Short had broken away from the pack to lead the tournament
with 7.5/8 before being tripped up by GM Kempinski in the last
round.  FM Vinay Bhat had a wonderful tournament, scoring 6.5/8
against Grandmasters.  The amazing strength of this internet
event is evidenced by a list of those who finished out of the
prizes:  GMs Adams, Svidler, Gulko, Kaidanov, etc.

The tournament set numerous records for internet chess!  63 GMs,
51 IMs, 37 FMs, 1 WGM, 5 WIMs and 310 total FIDE-rated players
took part.  CHESSCLUB.COM set new records for the number of people
logged in (2,615), the number of FIDE-titled players logged in (168),
and the number of simultaneous games being played (810).

The complete crosstable for the event is in help oz-grid on
CHESSCLUB.COM.  Thanks to JFernandez for directing the event.

Prizewinners:

1.     GM Alex Wojtkiewicz   2563    8.0   Trip to Iceland + $500
2.     GM Robert Kempinski   2528    8.0   $700
3-7    GM Nigel Short        2683    7.5   $240
       GM Alexandre Lesiege  2582    7.5   $240
       GM Igor Glek          2554    7.5   $240
       IM Diego Adla         2492    7.5   $240
       FM Vinay Bhat         2398    7.5   $240
8-12   GM Ilya Smirin        2666    7.0   $ 20
       GM Sergei Shipov      2640    7.0   $ 20
       GM Boris Avrukh       2620    7.0   $ 20
       GM Vitali Golod       2566    7.0   $ 20
       IM Stelios Halkias    2482    7.0   $ 20

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