WELCOME TO THE INTERNET CHESS CLUB

The Internet Chess Club (ICC) is the longest running, most popular, and best place to play chess on the Internet. Nowhere else can you find as many chess enthusiasts ready for a quick round of blitz, a short chat, an impromptu tournament, or simply enjoying the wealth of Chess.FM shows and live event coverage. It is not uncommon to find more than 3,000 chess players hanging out on ICC where more than 100,000 games are played each day.

ICC Dasher is a Windows program for playing chess. Membership enables you to play chess online within the ICC community, challenging your skills at ICC online tournaments. You can download Dasher for free and use it to play offline or online and to register for a free trial ICC account.

 Dortmund

The annual Sparkassen Chess Meeting, sponsored by the German bank of the same name, will take place from June 28th to July 6th, in the Dortmund Civic Theater.

Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik is no stranger to Dortmund being one of his favorite tournaments.  He's a big favorite to win and add to his record eight titles there, and heads the 8-player field that also includes top ten players Shakriyaz Mamedyarov, Peter Leko and Vasily Ivanchuk.   This  will be Kramnik’s first Classical outing since his failure at Corus Wijk aan Zee at the start of the year and one of his last before he attempts to wrest the title from Vishy Anand in the autumn in Bonn, Germany.

The full line-up (in rating order from the April Fide list) is: Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Shakriyaz Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), Peter Leko (Hungary), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Loek van Wely (Holland), Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia), Arkady Naiditsch (Germany), and Jan Gustafsson (Germany).

You can find the round-by-round pairings here.

The ICC Chess.FM team (though minus Macauley Peterson) will also be covering Dortmund, with host Mig Greengard being joined each round by GMs Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen, Nick De Firmian, Ronen Har-Zvi and Gregory Kaidanov.  Play will get underway each day at 9:00AM ET (Final round 7:00AM ET).  Our full schedule can be found here.

On ICC: fingerDortmund08

IX 'New In Chess' Trivia Contest winners

The IX 'New in Chess' TRIVIA Contest! ICC Chess.FM ICC and New in Chess present The XI 'New in Chess' Trivia Contest! Tune-in to Mig on ICC Chess.FM for our round-by-round coverage of Dortmund Chess Tournament 2008, and each round you could win a 1-year subscription to the world's best chess magazine. For more information and rules, visit our help page.

 Mainz Chess960

The human qualifier is over, but now its the turn of the machines! The qualifiers were held here at ICC on Thursday, and the best-of-six-game computer final will be on Saturday, June 28, 3pm ET, with NaumXMP and Sjeng battling it out for a spot in the Livingston Chess960 Computer World Championship in Mainz.

Second seed GM Hikaru Nakamura (Smallville) of the USA reasserted his authority as one of the top dogs on ICC on Sunday by winning the Mainz Chess Classic online Chess960 title. After winning the first qualifier, Nakamura beat with ease Cassano (3-0), VerdeNotte (2.5-0.5) and Yarosavich (3-0) en route to the six-game final. And in a more closely contested final, Nakamura beat the young Russian top seed Dmitry Andreikin, 4-2, to claim the $1090 (700 Euro) first prize, invitation to the FiNet and Ordix opens, hotel room and breakfast at the Hilton Mainz Hotel by the banks of the Rhine, just 1 block from the picturesque Old Town. All of last week, qualifiers were held here on ICC for the coveted spots in the 16-player KO Mainz Chess Classic online Chess960 finals. The full list of finalists and results can be found below or at our dedicated Mainz Chess960 page.

Download games from the finals in PGN format

Regular ICC Events

ICC Newsletter XXV-2008 June 20 In this issue: Surging in the Spotlight, Leaving Las Vegas, Mainz Chess960, Chess.FM videos, Tomato, and the ICC Store.

All events are free to ICC members unless noted. All times are Eastern Standard Time. Add 5 hours for GMT. Add 6 hours for CET.

Thursday, July 03   00:45   Tournament Sleepless - 3 tournaments, 5 rounds of 3 0     07:00   Tournament Early Morning - 7 rounds of 3 1     10:00   Tournament ICC Store with prizes 8 Rounds 1 0     11:30   Tournament Chess21 Blitz Series 5 Rounds 5 0     13:00   Simul 30 60 ch 3 IM Vojislav Milanovic     13:00   Tournament Chess21 Blitz Series 5 Rounds 5 0     14:15   Tournament Slomato 4 Rounds 17 5     15:00   Webcast GM Boris Alterman     15:00   Tournament Bullet Challenge 9 rounds 1 0     18:00   Material Odds IM John Schroer     20:00   Tournament League Of Losers 1 0 5 and 7 Rounds, W17     20:00   Simul IM Manest 30 30 - 30 boards - ch 3     21:00   Webcast Ask the Reinassance Man NM Dan Heisman     21:00   Tournament Thematic 15 0 4-5 Rounds     23:00   Tournament Nightly U1500 - 5 rounds of 2 6     23:00   Tournament Nightly O1500 - 7 rounds of 5 0     View this week's entire event list