On the 10th of July 2008 a new thematic match will start between two World Champions: Gert Timmerman and Mikhail Umansky.

The match consists of six games. The opening moves can be related to a great player of the past: Aaron Nimzowitsch (1886 - 1935). This theme and the prescribed moves were chosen by the Dutch endgame expert Jan van Reek who also generously sponsors the match with a prize fund of 5000 euro. On the starting date he celebrates his 63rd anniversary. The Tournament Director is Nol van 't Riet. The games will be played according to the ICCF Webserver Rules of Play, with a reflection time of 50 days for 10 moves. The games are live coveraged on the ICCF webserver without any delay.

Here is the main crosstable

The webserver was updated today:

- Technology update to ASP.NET 3.5

- Suspension list feature: It is mantained and visible only to the server administrators. Automatic but unconfirmed entries are created when players are withdrawn from an event due to any of the following reasons: unaccepted, silent and accepted withdrawals. Duration of the suspension is set according to tournament rule # 6. If a TO (tournament organizer) enters a confirmed suspended player to an event, he will receive a warning but will be allowed to continue. If a TO starts an event with a confirmed suspended player in the playing roster, an email is sent to the administrators and respective national delegate.

- Insert moves feature for TD's: TD's are now able to insert moves but only from the starting position. This can be used to setup special thematic matches (different openings in one match) as well as for switching transmission mode from email or postal to server.

- Improved browser compatibility: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Safari are now officially supported including the latest released versions IE7, Firefox 2.0.0.14, Firefox 3.0, Opera 9.5. Drag and drop is supported only in IE and Firefox. Firefox users may have to refresh the game page once when using the program for the first time.

- New calendar control in all pages.

- New tab control in "Personal settings".

- Changed dates for ready for rating feature for the upcoming end of the rating period.

- Several bugfixes.

Please report to us if you experience any problems.

Gino Figlio

33 players were distributed in 3 11-player groups: pre01 pre02 pre03

The top 3 players in each group will qualify to the final.
Go Juniors!

Gino Figlio, TO