Summer Cup 2008

Chess in the largest 5-star resort of Europe and the Mediterranean

The annual international open chess tournament Summer Cup 2008 will be organised this year in Porto Carras, Greece, the same venue which was chosen by the EU for the European Leaders Summit 2003! Famous politicians such as Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, Silvio Berlusconi, Gerhard Schroeder, Jose Maria Aznar, Konstantinos Simitis and many more were hosted in 2003 in Porto Carras, the largest 5-star resort of Europe and the Mediterranean!

This year's chess event will again be a 9-round swiss tournament with a prize fund of over 3,000 euros and excellent hotel prices, giving the opportunity to combine chess and summer holidays in real 5-star conditions! Porto Carras is also offering special hotel prices for young players under 12, who are accompanied by their parents, including FREE ENTRY and FREE HOTEL if they share a triple room! Apart from young talents, several GMs and IMs have participated in the past, including GMs Banikas, Svetushkin, Stojanovic and Nikolaidis, IMs Tzermiadianos, Bernal Moro, Kapnisis, Kulicov, etc. The winners of the previous editions were GM Dimitri Svetushkin (MDA) in 2006 and IM Bernal Moro (ESP) in 2007.

Porto Carras is much more than chess

The luxury Porto Carras Grand Resort is situated in an enchantingly verdant landscape in Halkidiki, Northern Greece. Set like a gem in 1763(!) hectares (17 million sq. m.!) of incredibly beautiful grounds, it is a paradise of green, fringed by seemingly endless sandy beaches, in fact 9 kilometres of them(!), punctuated by more than 25 little coves where the pine trees sweep right down to the water’s edge.

Located 110 km (75 minutes drive) south of the international airport of Thessaloniki, the Porto Carras Grand Resort includes in its 1763 hectares three hotel divisions, each in a different style, a casino, an ultra-modern thalassotherapy centre & spa, an international-standard 18-hole golf course, a private 315-berth marina, a 5,000 seat convention centre and Greece’s largest organic vineyard.

For sport enthusiasts, there is also a wide range of choices:

• Golf (the international-standard 18-hole course is open year round)
• Tennis Academy
• Diving & Water Sports
• Riding School
• Football pitch
• Climbing wall
• Hiking trails
• Beach volleyball
• Fully equipped gym

Everybody is invited in Porto Carras for chess and a hot summer holiday! More information about the resort and the International Open Tournament "Summer Cup 2008" can be found through the official website of the event: http://www.greekchess.com/cup2008

Tournament secretary and member of the organizing committee Maria Petsetidi (in the center) with the Chessdom team

The beach at Porto Carras

View of the conference facilities

The rooms at the hotel

Beautiful views from Porto Carras