The organizers of the 71st Corus Chess Tournament have invited the young Dutch GMs Daniel Stellwagen and Jan Smeets for the Grandmaster Group A in 2009. The other players who have yet confirmed their participation are Aronian, Carlsen, Ivanchuk, Kamsky, Karjakin, Morozevich, Movsesian, Radjabov and Van Wely.The complete field, with a total of 14 participants, will be presented in October 2008, as well as the names of the participants in the Grandmaster Groups B and C.
For both reigning Dutch champion Jan Smeets and runner-up Daniel Stellwagen it means a debut at the highest level. Together with Loek van Wely, they will represent the Netherlands in the traditional chess festival, that will be held from Friday, January 16th to Sunday, February 1st, 2009. This year, Smeets and Stellwagen finished shared 6th in Corus Grandmaster Group B. Here's interview with Stellwagen after his first-round win against Krasenkow:
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"456","attributes":{"class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image","height":"344","width":"425","style":""}}]]And here's an interview conducted with Jan Smeets, right after he became Dutch champion in April this year:
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"457","attributes":{"class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image","height":"344","width":"425","style":""}}]]Pavel Votruba new chief arbiter
Czech international arbiter Pavel Votruba (Benesov, 1948) will be the new chief arbiter, starting with the Corus Chess Tournament 2009. Mr. Votruba, who has been a member of the arbiters team since January 2004, succeeds Mr. Thomas van Beekum. Mr. Votruba has worked as an arbiter at different chess Olympiads, and holds the international master title as well. Mr. Van Beekum has been chief arbiter since 1991, when he succeeded Mr. Constant Orbaan.Link:
Corus Chess Tournament