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First WCN North American Chess Championship

WorldChessNetwork.com (WCN) is proud to announce their sponsorship of the
first WCN North American Chess Championship.

This "Battle of the 49th Parallel" features a head-to head confrontation
between reigning
 U.S. champion GM Larry Christianson and the recently crowned Canadian
champ, IM Pascal Charbonneau.  The match pits the proven veteran,
Christiansen, a 3-time winner of the U.S. title, against the up-and-coming
18-year-old phenom from Canada, Charbonneau.  Both of these players serve as
site professionals on WCN and will represent their respective countries in
the World Chess Championship later this year.

The WCN North American title match will be held in Richmond, British
Columbia at the beautiful Vancouver Airport Conference Resort, a first class
convention and resort hotel.
The championship will be held from June 10th, 2002 until June 16th, 2002 and
will consist of six games played at regular time controls with a sudden
death playoff in the case of a 3-3 tie.  (More details of the match format,
times, etc. can be obtained on the WCN website at www.worldchessnetwork.com)

Chess fans from around the globe will be able to watch the matches "live" on
the Internet via software provided free of charge by WorldChessNetwork.com.
Each of the games between Christiansen and Charbonneau will be covered in
real-time by WCN broadcasters.  Photos, pre-game and post-game interviews
will be available on the WorldChessNetwork.com website.

To enhance the viewers' involvement and understanding of the match, WCN site
professionals will provide live commentary during each of the games.  The
World Chess Network invites all guests to sign up early to enjoy maximum
coverage of this exciting event.  There is no charge for watching this
exclusive broadcast of the North American Championship on WCN.

For more information on the WCN North American Championship visit:
http://www.worldchessnetwork.com/English/events/naChampionship/naChampionshi
p.php

For more information on attending the event in person visit the Vancouver
Airport Conference Resort website at: http://www.vacr.bc.ca

--About Larry Christiansen-
GM Larry Christiansen has been one of America's leading International
Grandmasters for over 25 years.  He has represented the United States in
over 11 Chess Olympiads and has won the U.S. Chess Championship 3 times.
His elite career includes wins over legendary World Champions Anatoly Karpov
and Boris Spassky.   Larry Christiansen is a Site Professional for World
Chess Network.

--About Pascal Charbonneau-
IM Pascal Charbonneau quickly became the focus of Canadian chess enthusiasts
with his win at the 2002 Canadian Championship at the age of only 18.
Charbonneau bested both GM Spraggett and GM LeSiege to wear the crown of
Canadian champ.  He is an impressive talent with an incredibly bright future
ahead of him.  Pascal Charbonneau is a Site Professional for World Chess
Network.