January 15 2008 - Corus Chess Press

Amongst the special events celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Corus Chess Tournament, stands out the International composing tourney for endgame studies. This event has proved a great success in quantity and quality alike. A turnout of 151 entries submitted by 90 composers from 29 countries, makes it one of the biggest composing events ever. The level of the 22 awarded entries has been also exceptionally high. The organizing committee therefore decided to increase the prize fund, and in addition to the place prizes, also added five extra special prizes.

The tourney was dominated by the Russian composers who won the first three prizes as well as the first two special prizes and other distinctions. Especially successful was Yuri Bazlov from Vladivostok who shared the top honours and won the third prize too. Previously he also won the "Study of the Year" award for the years 2005 and 2006. As appreciation to his outstanding achievements the organizing committee has decided to invite Mr. Bazlov as a special guest of the Corus tournament next year.

Click here for the full report of the judge Yochanan Afek.