Top players and tournaments to watch

The First Samba Cup, Skanderborg, Denmark

The venue of the First Samba Cup is the Hotel Skanderborghus, Dyrehaven 3, DK 8660 Skanderborg (Tel. +45-86 52 09 55). Standings after four rounds:

• All games played so far in PGN
• The official web site, which is transmitting the games live

European Team Championships

Plovdiv in Bulgaria hosts the European team championship October 10th-21st 2003. 37 men's and 30 women's teams have confirmed their participation. Bareev, Svidler, Grischuk, Morozevich and Khalifman are in the Russian team. Shirov plays for Spain, Gelfand for Israel, Topalov for Bulgaria, Van Wely for the Netherlands and Ponomariov for the Ukraine are all listed too.

• Official site with extensive English language reports, resutls, games and standings

Essent Chess Tournament 2003

The double round robin Crown Group at the Essent Chess Tournament in Hoogeveen, the Netherlands, started on Octopber 12, 2003. It ends on October 18. There is also an Open Group (10 -18 October 2003) with a number of GMs, as well as an Amateur's Group.

• The official web site provides live games, reports (in Dutch) and results.