Update on Bilbao, Nanjing and London
The dates of the Grand Slam Final Masters in Bilbao have been changed, the list of players for the Nanjing super-tournament has been changed and the venue of the London super-tournament has been announced. An update on the information about three important, upcoming tournaments.
BILBAO
At the start of September, shortly before the Nanjing super tournament (see below) the 2nd Grand Slam Masters Final takes place in Bilbao, Spain. (Link to 2008 website.) The participants are the winners of the four Grand Slam tournaments: Alexander Grischuk (Linares), Sergei Karjakin (Wijk aan Zee), Alexei Shirov (Sofia) and Veselin Topalov (Nanjing).
As the organizers informed us, the schedule for the Grand Slam Final Masters will be as follows:
5th September: Drawing of lots and presentation of the tournament
6th September: 1st Round
7th September: 2nd Round
8th September: 3rd Round
9th September: Rest day
10th September: 4th Round
11th September: 5th Round
12th September: 6th Round
12th September: Closing ceremonyThe games will start at 17:00 CET. The last round, September 12th, will start at 16:00 CET. The playing venue will be the same stage that hosted the 2008 Bilbao Masters Final. The Bilbao Plaza Nueva (central square), in the heart of the city, will again host the great glass cube.
From the schedule we can conclude that the 4-player tournament will only be a double round-robin. There had been rumours that it might be followed with some kind of playoff with matches, but apparently this option won't be a reality.
NANJING
Although we haven't received anything official from the organizers, we think that by now it's safe to believe that the participants of the 2nd Nanjing Grand Slam tournament, to be held September 27th – October 9th in Nanjing, China will be Veselin Topalov, Magnus Carlsen, Teimour Radjabov, Dmitry Jakovenko, Peter Leko and Wang Yue. These are the six players who currently appear on the official website - both the Chinese and the English version.
Apparently the organizers haven't been able to come to an agreement with Viswanathan Anand, whose photo had been on the website for a while, and instead it's now Peter Leko going to China. As said before, this information is not yet official, but we thought it worthwhile to include the "photo change" in this post on three super-tournaments.
The tournament will be a 6-player double round robin and just like last year, but this time officially, it will be the first tournament of the new Grand Slam series. Also in Nanjing from September 27th to October 9th the 2nd Fide Women Grand Prix tournament will be held, with again 12 female top players competing. The 1st edition in the 2009-2010 series was held March 5-20 this year and was won by Humpy Koneru.
LONDON
We already knew the complete field of the London super-tournament: Michael Adams, Magnus Carlsen, David Howell, Vladimir Kramnik, Luke McShane, Hikaru Nakamura, Ni Hua and Nigel Short. We also already knew its dates: December 8th-15th, 2009. Now the venue has also been announced:
I am delighted to announce that the London Chess Classic 2009 will be staged at one of London’s most prestigious venues; the Olympia Conference Centre. Olympia will provide excellent facilities including a 400 seat soundproof auditorium, two commentary rooms and multimedia presentation. There will be ample space for Open, weekend and Speed Chess tournaments plus junior training which will run alongside the main event from December 8th-15th inclusive.
The London Chess Classic 2009 will be the highest level tournament in London for 25 years and will be the first in a series of events designed to increase enthusiasm for chess in the UK and promote the game and its undoubted educational benefits in schools and communities. It is also our objective to bring the world championship to London in the Olympic year 2012.
England’s four leading Grandmasters; Michael Adams, Nigel Short, Luke McShane and David Howell will be pitched against a world class field that includes a former world champion Vladimir Kramnik and 18 year old Magnus Carlsen ranked world number three and widely seen a future holder of the world crown. One of China’s finest players; Ni Hua and the US Champion Hikaru Nakamura, complete the field.
Spectators will be treated to live commentary on the games from Grandmasters and will be able to play tournament or informal games all day. Ticket information will be available in September. For those who cannot attend there be will live coverage and commentary on the games on the internet.
Malcolm Pein
London Chess Centre
Founder and editor-in-chief of ChessVibes.com, Peter is responsible for most of the chess news and tournament reports. Often visiting top events, he also provides photos and videos for the site. He's a 1.e4 player himself, likes Thai food and the Stones.
Comments
leigh
2 years 6 months ago
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Translate from the news for why Anand dropped from Nanjing Tournment
Because the current chess world champion Anand is preparing for the 2009 Chess Championship between Anand and Topalov, with great regret, he withdraw from the competition.
The chess legend was going to take part in China (Nanjing) chess tournament, but his wife considered again and again that it is a time conflict between Nanjing tournment and the world championship. The Challenger Topalov is also very hot. They reluctant to give up the opportunity to contest Super Nanjing.
According to the organizing committee officials, Anand appearance in Europe is around 50,000 euros. he had his wife take the initiative to contact the Organizing Committee in Nanjing, that there is no appearance fees have to be paid. When he was informed that the race scheduled for the end of September to early October, Anand was a bit hesitant, because it could affect preparations for the "Chess Championship" to Topalov. The Challenger Topalov has always ranked first in the world in recent years, also played very good games recently. Anand decided to give up the Nanjing tournment and focus on preparing the games between Topalov and himself.
Thomas
2 years 6 months ago
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As far as I remember, at some stage Topalov's picture had also disappeared from the Nanjing homepage? So it seems like they (both) wanted to avoid playing each other, and then Topalov changed his mind (again) when Anand had dropped out!?
leigh
2 years 6 months ago
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Tom,
I agree with you. I noticed the same thing.
When I heared that The top 3 chess players would join the tournment, i thought it was too strong to be true.
rajeshv
2 years 6 months ago
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Not sure what the source of the above translation is. I thought Anand's participation in Tal Memorial was around the same timeframe (though may not be an exact clash of dates). Also, as Thomas mentioned, probably Topalov and Anand both wanted to avoid direct matches, if possible. Anand is participating in Corus 2010. Is Topalov not participating? Anyone has info?
leigh
2 years 6 months ago
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The source is here:
in Chinese
http://sports.sohu.com/20090709/n265089844.shtml
CAL|Daniel
2 years 6 months ago
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"There had been rumours that it might be followed with some king of playoff with matches, but apparently this option won’t be a reality."
Not to nit pick but minor typo "kind of" instead of "king of" is what you mean I believe.
Great job as usual, keep up the good work!
Thomas
2 years 6 months ago
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@rajeshv: The only info on the tournament homepage is a column by Gert Ligterink (in Dutch) saying "I will leave announcements concerning the field to the tournament committee. But I have some inside information ("Ik hoor wel eens wat") and can assure you the field certainly will not be weaker than the last edition."
Now with all respect to the participants of Corus 2009, it is 'possible' to get an even stronger field (because all of Topalov, Anand and Kramnik were absent last time).
The rest of Ligterink's column is about Nakamura, "one participant who was so happy with his invitation that he immediately spread the news by megaphone to everyone who wanted to hear it".
D.M.Modak
2 years 6 months ago
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When I was in USA in 2008 I very eagerly followed the Anand-Kramnik match on the Net. Anand surprised Kramnik by refusing to open with 1) e4. His pet move in which he has decades of experience against the best players in the world and also by his choice of openings with Black. It seems likely that he is preparing a 'total' surprise for Topalov too and hence will not play at Nanjing. I hope he wins vs Topalov who is at the top of the form now(2009) and am eagerly awaiting the match. Hope to see world-class Chess then.
- D.M.Modak, Nasik(India)
26 July 2009
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