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players
Snowdrops and Oldhands – Czech Coal Chess Match 2010
GM Lajos Portisch (2544)
Lajos Portisch was born on 4th April 1937. Hungarian grandmaster is known for his precise positional play. That earned him the nickname "The Hungarian Botvinnik" and frequent comparisons of his playing style to Capablanca. In addition to chess he attended to music in his youth, played the violin and sang well. He excelled diligence and passion for chess, reportedly he trained seven hours a day. He was one of the strongest grandmasters 60th and 70th, who did not come from the Soviet Union. He participated in numerous interzonal chess tournaments and advanced to a total of eight matches of candidates. In these matches he got furthest to the semifinal, where he was stopped by last year's participants of Old-hands: in 1977 he lost the game with Boris Spassky and in 1980 was defeated by Robert Huebner. In years 1956 - 2000 he participated in twenty chess Olympiads, mostly on the first board for his country. In less than a half century he helped Hungary to win one gold medal, three silver and two bronze medals. He was also a really active tournament player. For example, he won in Sarajevo 1963, Amsterdam 1967 and 1969, Hastings 1970-71, Wijk aan Zee 1972 and Las Palmas 1972. In 2007 Portisch was a guest on Czech Coal Carlsbad Tournament.
GM Vlastimil Hort (2473)
A grandmaster Vlastimil Hort is a living legend of Czechoslovakian chess. He was born on 12 January 1944 in Kladno. He drew attention to himself with his style of chess game already in his childhood and since he reached 14 he used to be a regular contender in the final of Czechoslovakian adult championships. Ever since he was a young student, his game has been known for a superb feeling for position and his sensitive technique. He gained the international master title when he was 18 and he reached the grandmaster norm three years later. In 60s he played for his country at Chess Olympics and European championships. In 1963 he was a part of the winning team of the University Students Chess World Championship. He won several times Czechoslovakian championships (1970, 1971, 1972, and 1975). He won tournaments in Havana and Luhacovice in 1971, in Reykjavik 1972, at Sunny Beach and Hastings in 1974, in Banja Luka in 1976, in Stip, in Polanica Zdroj and in London in 1977. He was second at prestigious tournament at Wijk aan Zee in 1967 and 1975. In 1970 he was nominated to play the fourth board in the team of „the rest of the world“ against USSR team. On his board he beat a grandmaster Lev Pulugaievsky (with three draws). He reached his biggest success at the international tournament in Manila in 1976, where he shared a second place with Pulugaievsky and he got on to candidates tournament in 1977. During the match with Boris Spassky he lost 1:2 (with 15 draws). In 1977 he played a simul in Reykjavik with 550 contenders with a result 477:10 (with 63 draws) and he also played a blind simul against 22 players. After leaving Czechoslovakia he won the West Germany championship in 1987. In 2008, during a match of Snowdrops versus Old-hands, he reached the highest rating performance (ELO 2685) out of all of the other players. He did not miss any of the matches of Snowdrops versus Old-hands.
GM Dragoljub Velimirovic (2425)
Born on 12th May 1942. Serbian grandmaster is a renowned and feared attacker. He represented Yugoslavia six times in the Chess Olympiads. In 1974 he won the silver medal among first alternate members and he also helped the Yugoslavian team to gain the silver medal. He won tournaments in Vrnjacka Banja 1973, Albufeira 1978 or in Vrsac 1987 and he was second in Skopje 1971 and Novi Sad 1976. His name has a sharp and popular version of the Sicilian Defense.
GM Wolfgang Uhlmann (2412)
He was born on 29th March 1935 in Germany. GM title he acquires in his 21 years. He is a multiple champion of the German Democratic Republic. He represented his country on eleven chess Olympiads, except the last one he played always on the first board. In 1964 he was the best player of the Olympiad and two years later he was bronze in the individual evaluation. He won or shared the first place in a number of prestigious tournaments, such as Erfurt 1955, Hastings 1958/59, in 1965/66 he shared first place with Boris Spassky. Uhlmann played in Marianske Lazne the famous interzonal tournament in 1961 and at the same place in 2008 he participated in the match of Snowdrops versus Old-hands.
GM Koneru Humpy (2600)
Born 31 March 1987. The 22 year old Indian gained the international master title at the age of fifteen. She became the youngest female player to gained the title. She kept the record until 2008, when it was outperformed by even younger Hou Yifan. In 2001 she won the junior championship and she gained the title of international woman grandmaster (WGM). A year later she collected a title of international grandmaster (GM). Her best performance at the world woman championship was in 2008, when she got into the semifinal. She gained her highest ELO 2606 in 2007, and she became the second woman, after Judita Polgar, in the history of chess to beat the 2600 ELO points threshold. At the same time she got hold of the second place among the world best female chessplayers and she has kept the position until today. She participated in the Match of Snowdrops versus Old-hands in 2009, achieved the best results among Snowdrops.
GM Viktoria Cmilyte (2514)
She was born on 6th August 1983. Lithuanian grandmaster is a double champion of her country. First successes she recorded in 1993 on the Junior European Championship in the category of girls under 10 years, where she won a gold medal. Two years later in Verdun she defended the gold and the same metal she added on the Junior World Championship in Szeged, Hungary. She has represented Lithuania on the chess Olympiads six times, mostly on the first board. Although the team ended with the losers, Cmilyte twice managed to win the individual evaluation of the first chessboards. Today she is the 13th player of the FIDE women's ranking. She participated in the Match of Snowdrops versus Old-hands in 2008, when she achieved the best result in the team of Snowdrops. Cmilyte has two children, she was a woman of grandmaster Alexei Shirov.
WIM Arianne Caoili (2242)
She was born on 22 December 1986 in the Philippines, the country of her father; her mother is a Dutch girl. Caoili now represents Australia. She started playing chess at an early age. On the Chess Olympiad she played five times, until 2002 for the Philippines, then for Australia. On the Olympiad in Dresden 2008 she led the team of Australian on the first board. She already crossed the threshold rating 2300, but then she gave priority to study for a short time. Caoili enjoys singing, she was also one of celebrities in the australian dance competition.
Tereza Olsarova (2185)
She was born on 16 May 1991. She represents the Czech Republic. Her chess style is quite sharp, she plays offensive up to aggressive chess. This year she has represented at the Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, where she gained four points from eight games. She participates in numerous tournaments. She won in the closed women's grandmaster tournament in Rijeka (2010) and a closed tournament in Liptov WIM (2009). At last year's championship of girls under 18 years she ended on 13th place. With the team of Slavia Orlova she is a twice winner of the Czechoslovak women's league. She attended to figure-skating for seven years competitively. Today she studies Recreology at FTK in Olomouc.