The Washington International will be returning this year after a very successful inaugural event last year. The tournament attracted a strong field, and player feedback was positive. A critical component of the tournament's success was the financial support we received from the chess community. We learned a lot from organizing our first international tournament, and we're making changes that we hope will make this the best open international tournament in the US. Again, we need the help of the chess community. Our biggest need is for sponsors and donors to help cover the costs of bringing in the foreign titled players that allow US players to earn GM and IM norms.

Read more: Supporting the 2nd Annual Washington International

The Maryland Chess Association will be organizing a tournament in memory of GM Yuri Razuvaev August 8-11, 2013 in Rockville, Maryland. GM Razuvaev was the coach of Alexandra Kosteniuk when she won the Woman's World Championship in 2008. In honor of this, the tournament format will a match of some of the top women chess players against some older male players who were friends with GM Razuvaev.

 This tournament will be held in parallel with the 2nd Annual Washington International live broadcasts of the games will be at http://www.mdchess.com.

In addition to the PGN file will all the games from the 1st Washington International. Below is a board where you can play through any game from the tournament.

At the end of this year's Washington International we ask the players a few questions about the tournament. We received responses from over half of the players. Below are the unedited responses.

Overall, I liked the playing conditions

Coments: Spacious, Good lighting

Read more: Washington International Player Survey