Chess festival underway in Vladimir

A chess festival has opened for the first time in the ancient town of Vladimir, 200km away from Moscow. The 2002 Vladimir Open has been attended by 14 international and three FIDE maters, along with chess players from Russia's six cities.

Three tournaments - rating, common, and on speed chess - are to be held in the framework of the week-long festival. The rating tournament with two Grand Masters - Atalik Suat from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Igor Zakhorevich from Russia's Nizhny Novgorod will be the festival's centrepiece.

Total prize money at stake at the festival is $3,280.