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The re-elected President of the Turkish Chess Federation, Ali Nihat Yazici, has new surprises for the chess world. They were announced in a speech delivered during the closing ceremony of the Turkish Youth Chess Championship, held in Kemer from 23 to 30 January 2009.
Sports minister Murat Başesgioğlu making the first move on a youth
board
During the championship the State Minister of Sports Murat Başesgioğlu, and Ersin Özince, CEO of the main sponsor of the federation, the Turkish İş Bank, visited the championship, watched 1,000 kids play chess under the same roof and met with future talents.
World Under 11 Schools Champion Vahap Sanal shaking hands with the CEO
of the main sponsor of the Turkish Chess Federation, Turkish İş Bank
Ersin Özince.
A proud day for Turkish chess: the national teams at all levels and the
Board of the Turkish Chess Federation pose together with the Sport Minister
Murat Başesgioğlu
Basically any Turkish player to become a grandmaster or woman grandmaster (GM or WGM) will receive a prize of 10,000 TL (app. €5,000). You should know that Turkey has just one native grandmaster, Suat Atalik, 45, with a peak rating of 2632.
To the above basic prize there are a number of bonuses:
The first player to become a GM or WGM will receive a 20,000 TL (app. €10.000) award. This special prize is available until 01.01.2010.
The first under player under twenty years of age to become GM or WGM will receive an extra 20,000 TL (app. €10.000) award. Therefore: if a player achieves all the norms to become GM or WGM and is less than 20 years old (until 01.01.2010), he or she will receive a total prize of 50.000 TL (app. €25.000).
The first ever under-16 player to become GM or WGM will receive an extra 40,000 TL (app. €20.000) award. Therefore: if a player achieves all the norms to become GM or WGM and is less than 16 years old (until 01.01.2010), he or she will receive a total prize of 90.000 TL (€45.000).
The first ever under 14 player to become GM or WGM will receive an extra 40,000 TL (app. €20.000) award. Therefore: if a player achieves all the conditions to become GM or WGM and is aged under 14 (until 01.01.2010), he or she will receive a total prize of 130.000 TL (€65.000).
The first Turkish player to achieve a 2600 rating and the GM title or a 2450 rating and the WGM title will receive 100.000 TL (€50.000)
The first Under 16 Turkish player to achieve a 2600 rating and the GM title or a 2450 rating and the WGM title will receive 190.000 TL (€90.000)
The first Under 14 Turkish player to achieve a 2600 rating and a GM title or a 2450 rating and the WGM title will receive 250.000 TL (€125.000). So if you are a Turkish super talent don’t lose any time!
If this player is the first GM or WGM in the country then the he or she will receive a total prize of 380.000 TL (€190.000).
There are only two conditions to achieve these prizes: the player has to be a citizen of Turkish Republic before 01.02.2009 and has to play in the tournaments approved by the Turkish Chess Federation.
Kıvanç Haznedaroğlu
The first ever Turkish player to achieve a GM norm (after Suat Atalık), thanks to his performance in Pardubice 2007. Two weeks later he achieved his second norm at the Olomuc GM Tournament A Group, and is now just one norm away from completing the task. Kıvanç has many Turkish titles, starting with the youth championship, and was first ever Turkish player to participate in the World Championship in Libya 2004. His aim is to get his last norm and become the second native grandmaster of his country.
Emre Can
The youngest Turkish player to become an IM. Emre tied for third place in the European U14, and won a bronze medal in the Turkish Championship when he was 15. He became an international master at the age of 16, won the Karpov World Children Chess Olympiad in 2006, and took the fourth place in 2007 World U18 European Championship. He won the Olomuc GM Tournament B Group in 2007 to achieve his first GM norm. Emre played in Dresden for the Turkish National Team for the first time. He is in his freshman year at IT Department of the Kadir Has University, but is taking a little break to complete the chess mission.
Mustafa Yılmaz
The rising star of Turkish Chess, aged 17, took the fourth place in Turkish Championship and leaped from a rating of 2000 to 2400 in two years. Mustafa is the first ever Turkish player to defeat Grandmasters Mikhail Gurevich and Suat Atalık. He joined the Turkish National Team last year at the Chess Olympiad for the first time, also broke the record of being the youngest player to achieve that distinction.
Burak Fırat
The strongest youngster from Izmir, 16 years old and rated 2250, member of the silver medalist team of the U18 European Team Championshionsip in Subotica 2007. Burak was invited to the Young Stars of the World tournament last year in St. Petersburg. He is increasing his rating steadily and is a very hard-working youngster.
Cankut Emiroğlu
Former World U11 World Schools Championship and bronze medalist in U14 European Schools Championship, Cankut won numerous Turkish Youth titles, including the bronze medal in the U14 Turkish Youth Championship.
Vahap Şanal
This 12-year-old from Izmir has the Candidate Master title, finished fourth in 2006 World U8 Championship, is the winner of U11 World Schools Championship and Turkish Champion U12. In the Mediterranean Championship he gained 51 rating points and missed a win against the winner of the tournament, IM Georgiadis, who achieved his second GM norm in the very same championship.
Batuhan Daştan
Another member of the bright U-12 squad, Batuhan came third in the U11 World Schools Championship last year and, together with Şanal, he brought in a gold medal in the team standings. Batuhan was also a silver medalist in the U12 Turkish Youth Championship.
Cemil Can Ali Marandi
The last but not least of the U12, Ali Marandi has the FIDE Master title (he is the youngest Turkish player to have achieved that), and won the U9 World Schools Championship in 2007, then won U10 European Championship in 2008, and also became a bronze medalist in U12 Turkish Youth Championship.
Atilla Köksal Yüksel
Has the Candidate Master title, won the U11 World Schools Championship in 2007, U14 Turkish Youth Champion.
Volkan Sevgi
Bronze medalist in U8 European Championship in 2007, U10 Turkish Youth Champion.
Izge Bayyurt
He is nine years old and often wears a three-piece suit during his games.Izge is an extraordinary young man, very serious and quite dedicated to chess, winning a bronze medal in World Schools Chess Championship in Under 7 Category in Thessaloniki last April. He is realistic enough to admit that it is a very difficult task to become a world champion, and says he is not sure whether he will succeed in making it. His favourite world champion, he tells us, is Mikhail Botvinnik, because he was always able to come back to the top. Izge asked Garry Kasparov about Botvinnik when he visited Istanbul for the promotion of Turkish volume of "My Great Predecessors."
Betül Cemre Yıldız
This 20-year-old lady is from Izmir, a very fruitful area for Turkish chess talent, and has already won five Turkish women’s titles. Betül has the WIM title and was the bronze medalist in U18 World Youth Championship in 2007. She is a student of the Law Faculty in Eylül University and also a student of management in an open university. She has a chess center carrying her name in Izmir, for training new youngsters like her.
Kübra Öztürk
18-year-old star from outskirts of Ankara, WIM, already a familiar face for ChessBase readers and one of the best-known faces in Turkish chess. Kübra won four international medals in two years including a silver medal in the World Junior Championship, two gold medals in the U16 Girls European Championships and a bronze medal in the U18 Girls European Championship. She was the first chess player ever to carry the Olympic Torch when it visited Istanbul last year in March.
Ezgi Menzi
This former U9 World Schools Championship bronze medalist and bronze medalist in U12 Turkish Youth Championship lives in Mersin and works with one of the strongest players of the country, IM Barış Esen.
Yesim Patel
The 12-year-old is from Manisa has two Turkish Youth titles, in U10 and U12, Ezgi Menzi and Yesim Patel are opponents in the same age category but very close friends. They even do their national team camp homeworks together and stay together in the hotels in every convenient occasion.
Yesim Patel and Ayca Fatma Durmaz, another young talent, working with GM
Adrian Mikhalchishin. These two young talents were introduced extensively in
a previous report.
They are being trained by and love the game.
Burcu Şaşmazel
Burcu (pronounced Bur-joo) has also received a bit of attention when she passed Frederic Friedel’s talent test in 2007. She is not just good at chess, but deeply interested in mathematics, science and especially astronomy. Burcu won the right to attend special mathematics courses given by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey for the Mathematics Olympiad. Smart kid, you better believe it.
