It's the chess equivalent of March madness here on ICC, as we crank-up the servers for the online chess tournament that the fans eagerly look forward to each year: "Ciudad de Dos Hermanas", the biggest, grandest and best online tournament hosted only here on ICC.

The total prize fund amounts to EUR 7,600 (about $10,400), with Euro 2,000 (roughly $2,700) first prize, plus additional class prizes and ICC membership prizes for amateur players. Entry is completely FREE but you DO need to be a member of ICC (and register) to play!

This is one of the most important Internet chess tournaments in the world with the last four editions boasting an entry of over 5,000 players from all over the world. Will previous two-time winner, Jorge Sammour-Hasbun, go for a third title in four years, or will defending champion GM Dmitry Kononenko (Dako) join the untitled online blitz maven by becoming the second player to win back-to-back titles? Other top grandmasters who have vied for the title in the past include: Shahriyar Mamedyarov, Tigran L. Petrosian, Gata Kamsky, Hikaru Nakamura, Kiril Georgiev and Sergey Shipov.

As in previous editions, the playing system is as follows: twelve 12-round Swiss qualifiers using the playing rate of 3 minutes per game. Qualifiers are held twice a day from March 12th to March 17th, with the finals being held on March 19th & 20th. The 12 qualifier winners plus the 20 best scores qualify to go forward to the 32-player KO final.

Even if you are not aiming to win a prize, this tournament gives you a unique chance to meet world class players! We hope that Dos Hermanas will become the internet chess tourney of the year once again. Make sure to register early only at the official site below! Your registration is valid for all qualifiers, but you do not need to play all.

Full rules, guidelines and registrations can be found at our special Dos Hermanas website.

Please download the latest versions of Dasher (1.3) or BlitzIn (2.7) to play.

It was an epic final that more than went the distance in overtime here on ICC - as GM Mikhail Panarin, of Russia, beat GM Ivan Cheparinov, of Bulgaria, 10.5-9.5(!) in the final playoff game to take the qualifying spot for the Bosna2010 tournament.

Panarin is no stranger to big-time opens, such as the one he will now be representing ICC in at Bosnia2010, as he had two very commendable performances recently at the Moscow Open and Aeroflot Open in the Russian capital.

All the results and games of the Bosna2010 online qualifier can now be found at the archived page here:

http://www.chessclub.com/activities/Bosna2010.html