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Ortisei
Ortisei centre
The tournament
The tournament is divided into two groups: the A-group is for players with a rating of more than 1900, the B-group is for players with a rating of less than 2000. The festival has a prize-fund of 10.000€. Organizer Ruben Benardi, who also was in charge of the Chess Festivals 2015 and 2014, has again managed to convince strong grandmasters to come to Ortisei. One of these grandmasters is Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, European Champion of 2005, who currently has an elo-rating of 2667. In 2013 Nisipeanu won the tournament and at that time he was still playing for Romania. Since 2014 he has been representing Germany. However, he still has an uncompromising and creative style and this makes him a real attraction for the Festival.
But he will not be the only strong player in Ortisei. The Serbian GM Markus (2651) or the Israeli GM Nabaty (2613) also have good chances to win the tournament. Or the Italian top player Daniele Vocaturo (2562) or the experienced German GM Stefan Kindermann (2515), who is still going strong?
To date eight GMs, six IMs and many FMs have registered to take part in the International Chess Festival of Ortisei. Thus, you do not have to hike to the summits of the Dolomites to reach new heights – the tournament offers plenty of opportunities to excel, possibly with an IM- or even a GM-norm.
The hall of fame on the tournament website of the tournament reveals who won the previous tournaments: in 2013 it was GM Nisipeanu and in 2014 it was GM Peralta from Argentina.
If you want to continue to play good, challenging chess in nice surroundings you can travel from Ortisei to the open tournament in Forni di Sopra (12th to 19th of June). The bus connection to Forni di Sopra is good and inexpensive.
Val Gardena
Ortisei ( http://st-ulrich.it-wms.com/wmspanoviewer.php?lang=it ) is a well-known holiday destination amidst the majestic peaks of the Dolomites. It is a cute little town with about 4.000 habitants that is located on an altitude of almost 1.250 meters. Maybe you are in for a long hike to enjoy the panoramic views of the Dolomites even more afterwards? Or do you prefer to use the many sport facilities the hotel has to offer: mountain biking, tennis, swimming, fitness, and much more.
The valley is famous for its wood carvings and for the Ladin language that is spoken here. Ladin is a Rhaeto-Romanic language and is similar to the Romanic language of the Grigioni canton in Switzerland. Ladin is the oldest language of the alpine region and dates back to the times when this area was “romanized”. Ladin developed from the “vulgar Latin” and parts of the regional dialect and today it is the third official national language in South Tyrol besides Italian and German.
And if you ask locals from Venice or close to Venice where to go for a holiday they will definitely recommend the Dolomites.
Alpe di Siusi
San Giacomo
From Ortisei you can visit the beautiful Alpe di Siusi, Resciesa or San Giacomo or you travel a bit further to Bolzano (Bozen) or Merano where Karpov and Kortschnoi in 1981 played for the World Championship. German and Italian culture blend in Bolzano which shows in the architecture, the local cuisine and the local language. A famous and popular tourist site is the Roncolo castle.
Roncolo Castle
On behalf of the organizer Ruben Benardi and his team would like to invite you to these tournaments in idyllic and ‘natural’ surroundings.
So come to Ortisei to spend a joyful week with chess friends and to enjoy the beautiful mountains of the Dolomites and – last but not least – to show your skills on the chessboard! To conclude in style, here’s an Italian proverb: ‘Friends may meet, but mountains never greet.’
Jan Werle
Groningen, April 2016
