Breaking news - Lithuanian GM Sarunas Sulskis (FIDE Grade 2595) has just confirmed that he will be playing in the Open section of Prestwick 2012.
GM Sulskis will also be the main attraction at the Saturday night event in Prestwick.
Further details to follow over the weekend.
How did you pull that one off David? lol
Great news!
All of the credit for this goes to Robin Moore, who has worked tirelessly and with probably a few sleepless nights to persuade GM Sulskis to come over and take part.
Lithuanian Grand Master Sarunas Sulskis trained at the Botvinnik/Kasparov school and has acted as a second to Vassily Ivanchuk.
Born in 1972, GM Sulskis achieved his Grand Master title in 1996 and has consistently maintained a FIDE grading of around or above 2500. In the January 2012 FIDE ratings Sarunas reached a new career high of 2595 and he is the number one rated player in Lithuania.
GM Sulskis has participated in 3 of FIDE's World Chess "Knock Out" Championships. In 1997 in Groningen he was knocked out in the first round, but in both 2001 in Moscow, and in 2004 in Tripoli he made the second round after beating GM Graf in 2001 and GM Macieja in 2004.
He is the current Lithuanian Chess Champion and has won the title on six occasions: in 1991, 1994, 1998 (shared with Vidmantas Mališauskas), 2007, 2009 and 2011. Sarunas played for Lithuania in the Chess Olympiads of 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2010 and in the European Team Chess Championships of 1997, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011.
At Goodricke Calcutta, in 2002, he scored 8.5 of 11 possible points (77%) against 2555-rated opposition, for a performance rating of 2697. In 2006, he tied for 2nd–9th in the 2nd EU Individual Open Chess Championship in Liverpool. In 2011 he won the Guernsey International Chess Festival.
In addition to being one of the top players Sarunas is also a top level coach and is already providing online coaching to players in Scotland.
His participation in the Prestwick 2012 Open gives an opportunity for five players to test themselves against him in serious competition. Other participants in the congress an opportunity to watch the action unfold live in the playing hall and chess enthusiasts throughout the country, who are unfortunate enough not to be where the drama is, an opportunity to console themselves with watching the games live on the internet.
As the main attraction at the Saturday night social event, at the Parkstone Hotel in Prestwick, a number of lucky players will get the chance to take on Lithuania’s number one, in a simultaneous event. We are also hopeful that Sarunas will be kind enough to entertain us before the simul with anecdotes, tips and training drawn from his experiences over two decades of playing at the top, giving those attending a flavour of his coaching skills. He may even reveal how he became the unofficial Irish blitz chess champion.
Those that are interested in being a part of the Prestwick 2012 congress and want a chance at taking on GM Sulskis, can find entry forms for the congress on the calendar page of the Chess Scotland website or on the Congress website <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ayrshirechesscongress.co.uk">http://www.ayrshirechesscongress.co.uk</a><!-- m --> . The congress website and congress brochure will be updated shortly, to reflect this latest, exciting news.
i taught him everything he knows ;P
Seriously though, Prestwick is just a little too far for me, but i'm looking forward to watching the live games. a small donation towards the sensory boards will be made at my next congress
I see International Master Mark Orr has entered the Open as well!
Its shaping up to be some tournament.
I can't wait, I will be involved in the Junior tournament but looking forward to getting a glimpse of some of the games going on in the Open.
Anyone interested in taking on GM Sulskis in the simul can increase their chances of being one of the select by entering the Prestwick Congress before the 31st March.
GM Sarunas Sulskis will be graded around the 2600 mark when he plays at Prestwick. In an e-mail regarding his addition to the CS grading database, Douglas Bryson remarked "Is he the strongest (highest rated) player in a Scottish weekender since Tony Miles at Grangemouth?"
Perhaps those with better memories than me will know the answer to this.
I wasn't aware that Miles played at Grangemouth. Does anybody have any memories of his appearance at this event. It seems a shame that a congress that attracted such a player and character appears to be in danger of not continuing.
"Another trivia question is how many players who played
in the Candidates played in tournaments in Scotland?"
Bronstein, Hort, Gligorich....