The Internet Chess Club (ICC — www.chessclub.com), the world’s premier online subscription chess service, is again participating in a charity event featuring one of the world’s top ranked chess players, 17-year-old Norwegian Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, who has magnanimously agreed to do a fundraising simul at ICC to help a young fellow grandmaster. Serbian GM Dusan Popovic tragically took ill earlier this year, diagnosed with chronic kidney failure, and now is in urgent need of a transplant.

Pittsburgh, PA (EMWNews) August 8, 2008 — MAGNANIMOUS MAGNUS ON ICC!

GM Magnus Carlsen

Do You Want To Play Magnus Carlsen on the Internet Chess Club (ICC – www.chessclub.com) and help raise money for a good cause? You may remember last year that World Champion Vishy Anand raised $10,000 on ICC for a charity that was close to his heart? Well, this year young rising Norwegian star Magnus Carlsen has magnanimously agreed to do a similar fundraising simul at ICC, with 100% of the monies raised going to help a young fellow grandmaster in need of urgent medical treatment.

Serbian GM Dusan Popovic tragically took ill earlier this year, diagnosed with chronic kidney failure, and now is in urgent need of a transplant. You can read more about Dusan’s plight here.

Magnus Carlsen will be giving of his time to help a fellow player in his hour of need.by hosting a simultaneous exhibition on ICC on Monday, August 11, with matches beginning at 2 p.m. U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (7 p.m. in the U.K. [BST and 8 p.m. in Norway and central Europe [CET).

You can PLAY! You can HELP!

Internet Chess Club is offering on eBay 18 seats to play in the simultaneous exhibition with Super-Grandmaster Carlsen. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play whom many believe will soon become the world #1 and world champion — and at the same time help towards a good cause. Twelve seats will be sold in a Dutch Auction, and six seats are offered in this listing at a fixed price. To view all the auctions, look for internetchessclub on eBay.

The six people who donate $500 each for these special fixed-price seats will receive a two-year subscription (or two-year renewal) to ICC; a downloadable copy of the latest version of Junior, the three-time world champion chess engine; and a one-year subscription to the world’s leading chess magazine, New In Chess–for a total value of about $250!

Your winning bid will earn a seat to play Super Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen on ICC. The time control will be 90 minutes with a 5 second increment. Seats will only be available to players under the rating of 2200 and they will play with the black pieces.

Notes: All payments must be made by PayPal or credit card within 24 hours of the close of the auction in order to allow time to properly prepare for this event. You need not be an ICC member in order to participate; you will receive instructions via email upon payment.

ICC members can also pay a modest sum of 5 chekels (or donate more to the cause) to play in two online qualifiers (Saturday, 9 August, 5 p.m. ET and Sunday, 10 August, 4 p.m. ET) with six seats up for grabs — the top two from each qualifier, plus the two players with the highest accumulated scores playing both qualifiers winning through to play in the Magnus Carlsen Simultaneous.

Please remember that ALL 100% of the proceeds raised will go directly to GM Dusan Popovic’s medical fund for his kidney transplant – please give generously to his cause.

The Magnus Carlsen Simultaneous takes place Monday, August 11th with matches beginning at 2 p.m. U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (7 p.m. in the U.K. [BST and 8 p.m. in Norway and central Europe [CET).

Founded in 1995 as one of the first premium gaming sites on the Internet, today ICC is firmly established as the premier online chess service, with more members, more Grandmasters, more volunteers, and more loyalty from its members than any other classical game service on the Internet. More than 30,000 members from all over the world regularly enjoy playing casual or tournament chess games against each other; watching others play, including hundreds of titled chess masters; attending online lectures, classes, and special events; or simply socializing with fellow chess enthusiasts in a club house that’s always open.