http://heusenstamm-sparkassen-open.de/hso_historie.htm
Tournament Venue : Martinsee Cultural and Sports Centre
Tournament conditions : Spendid ! The venue is a big hall and airy, the temperature is cool, around 20 deg C, perfect for a long sleeve shirt or even T-shirt (for some people) without jacket. The best part is, every pairred player gets a big table with lots of space. This is one of the best tournament in the world.
In 2016, there are about 200 players in Open A, 100 players in Open B, and 50 Players in Juniors.
All 350 players played in the same hall. There are only 2 arbiters and a Chief Arbiter for such big tournaments, and there are no problem. Everything runs smoothly. Most of the participants are German from various chess clubs, however there are also some players from other countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, etc. The Polish IM, Daniel Sadziskowski was the Champion for 2016.
Accomodation in Heusenstamm
The only challenge about this tournament is the accomodation. There is no hotel or hostel within 5 to 10 minutes walking distance. The nearest hotel is 20minutes walk away, at Heusenstamm town centre - Mein SchlossHotel, Frankfurter Straße 9, 63150 Heusenstamm, Germany. 20 minutes walk in the cold winter could be quite a challenge for some people.
Through Airbnb, players could get some houses nearby to stay, but they are mostly located near Heusenstamm town centre. Therefore, most players had a car, or at least bicycles. Some players took the taxi to the venue.
If you are flying in from another town or country to Frankfurt Airport, you can rent a car from this airport. If you book early, you can get as cheap as EUR15 per day. Frankfurt Airport is about 20 minutes drive to Heusenstamm.
Smoking Area
The smoking area is right ouside the building as shown in photo below :
 |
| Heisenstamm Venue : Entrance and Smoking Area |
Just look at the space between the players ! Every player from Open A, B and Junior has his/her own table and wooden board and pieces. Ample space is available for people to walk around. (This is pretty much every player's dream!) No elbow to elbow rubbing.
There is even space for teddy bear !
Three big monitors are set up to show the pairring list and ranking list for Open A, B and Junior section.
 |
| Heusenstamm Sparkassen : Looking at Pairring List on the Monitor |
The pairring is also available on the website below, click on the number 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 for each round pairing. You may need to refresh the screen on your phone or laptop to see the pairring.
http://heusenstamm-sparkassen-open.de/2016/a/hso_rd01.htm
The pairring and results are not updated in chess-results.com, for some reason.
There are 16 DGT boards for Open A, and this top players sections are blocked by barrier with sponsor names. The large Monitor on the wall displayed the top 8 boards live. Table 1 to 8 are seated next to the wall and their games are viewable from monitor. Table 9 to 16 are viewable directly from the barrier. The 16 live games are also available on their website :
http://heusenstamm-sparkassen-open.de/2016/a/hso_live1.htm
 |
| Heusenstamm Sparkassen Open : 16 DGT boards |
 |
| Heusenstamm Sparkassen : DGT board display on projector |
 |
| Heusenstamm Sparkassen : Wooden Chessboard and chess pieces |
http://www.liveschach-schau.de
This link can be found at the bottom of each LIVE page from our HSO Website.
This will lead you to another webpage, that contains the current offer in PGN what we have by now.
On the header above a pairing section it shows "PGN" as a column header. Click on it, and you are asked (watch the bottom window of your browser) for to download a file asf.
PGN file can also be downloaded from here :
http://www.heusenstamm-sparkassen-open.de/2016/a/hso_notationen.htm
Lunch and Dinner
Lunch and dinner can be pre-booked at the restaurant on the ground floor. The first floor also has a hall to cater for bigger group. |
| Restaurant Martinsee at Culture and Sports Centre Martinsee, Heusenstamm |
 |
| First floor Sports and Culture Centre Martinsee, Heusenstamm : Dinner set up |
 |
| Menu at Resturant Martinsee |
Breakfast, Drinks and Snacks
Breakfast and Snacks are available before, during and after the game starts, all day. Sandwiches, cakes such as Apple pie are server. The cost is less than EUR2.00. Coffee, tea and juice are also available. Coffee cost EUR1.40 per cup.
 |
| Snacks and Drinks area |
Chess books and materials on Sale
Chess books and materials are on sale on the last day of the tournament, next to the Snacks area. Chess sets, chessboard of all kinds are available. |
| Chess books and materials on sale |
Analysis Rooms
Just outside the tournament hall, three locker rooms have been converted to Analysis rooms. Each rooms have about 6 sets of chess sets for players to do after game analysis.
The room comes with a toilet. Bigger toilet rooms are located just outside these analysis rooms.
 |
| Analysis Room |
More photos of Tournament Venue
