* International Chess Festival Aeroflot Open 2008 Starts in Moscow.
The International Chess Festival Aeroflot Open 2008 held its opening ceremony yesterday in Russia’s Moscow with the participation of 409 chess masters from Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Belarus, Israel, German, France, Italia, Hungary, Rumania, China, Qatar, Viet Nam and Croatia.
The festival grouped their candidates into four tournaments A1, A2, B and C based on their elo rating.
Two Vietnamese International Grand Masters Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and Le Quang Liem were grouped into the tournament A1 which consisted of 66 chess masters competing in 9 Swiss-system sets.
A total cash award is up to US$100,000 for tournament A1 while the other tournaments, including A2, B and C individually will receive US$50,000, US$27,000 and 18,000.
Son (elo 2551) and Liem (elo 2542) started their tournament with two competitions yesterday evening, with Russian Alexander Riazabtsev (elo 2628) and Dmitry Bocharov (elo 2600) respectively.
The festival is sponsored by Aeroflot, the Association of Chess Federations and the Russian Chess Federation in co-operation with the Moscow Committee on Tourism.
* Prime Minister Renames Sporting Centers.
According to an official release by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, three sporting institutes receive new names, namely the Universities of Physical Education and Sports No.1, 2 and 3 are changed into Bac Ninh University of Physical Education and Sports, Ho Chi Minh University of Physical Education and Sports and Da Nang University of Physical Education of Sports respectively.
Moreover, their three National Sports Training Centers also are renamed Ha Noi National Sports Training Center, Ho Chi Minh National Sports Training Center and Da Nang National Sports Training Center and Can Tho National Sports Training Center.
