Italian born-Argentine Grandmaster (1985), FIDE Trainer (2013) and a lawyer. Best results. winner or shared first at Havana 1986 and Camaguey 1987, both Category X, Havana 1985 and Benasque in 1985, Forli 1998, Andorra, Ponferrada in 1989, Zaragoza and Cadix in 1991, Madrid B 1994, Canete 1994, Braganca Paulista Open 1997, Benasque and Valle D’ Aosta

On Saturday 28th of January the main tournaments of RSSU International Chess Cup “Moscow Open 2012” have started. Struggle for prize-winning places was entered by 1470 chess players from 26 countries of the world, including 95 international grandmasters and 70 international masters. Top results round 1 1 Chigaev Maksim ½ – ½ GM Inarkiev Ernesto

Aeroflot Open, one of the strongest Open of the world has started in Moscow. Divided in 3 groups , the winners will share 150,000€ and one invitation to Dortmund Super tournament in the summer. Top results Round 1 1 GM Aleksandrov, Aleksej BLR 2612 – GM Tomashevsky, Evgeny RUS 2740 ½-½ 2 GM Caruana, Fabiano

It was confirmed that the 2012 Chess Olympiad and FIDE Congress will be held in Istanbul, Turkey from 27th August to 10th September. The bids for the Candidates Matches were discussed, with a final decision to be made before 29th February, 2012. A committee was set up to present a final proposal on the chess project

Playing under the Turkish flag since 2011, former Serbian Grandmaster Dragan Solak won the 2012 Turkish title with 8,5 points ahead of IM Erdoğdu Mert 2424, IM Firat Burak 2396, GM Esen Bariş 2534, FM Yilmazyerli Mert 2314, IM Kanmazalp Oğulcan 2397, CM Daştan Muhammed Batuhan 2211, Arat Ufuk Sezen 2047, Şengül Cengiz 2168, Eminov