Reports | March 12, 2010 15:57

Who will win Amber? - second preview video

Palais de la MediterranéeTomorrow the first round of the 2010 Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament will be played, and we have a second preview video to get you warmed up. The world's number one, Magnus Carlsen, is there. Vladimir Kramnik, who won many times, is there. Levon Aronian, who won the last two editions, is there. Who do you think will win?

The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000.

Preview video by Macauley Peterson

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"180","attributes":{"class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image","height":"340","width":"560","style":""}}]]

The world's number one player, Magnus Carlsen, is the top-seed in Nice. Also present are Levon Aronian, the winner of the past two Amber tournaments, and Vladimir Kramnik, who won the Amber tournament a record six times. These three players are clearly the big favourites, but what about Alexander Grischuk, who replaced Alexander Morozevich less than a week ago? Or the ever unpredictable Vasily Ivanchuk? Or Ruslan Ponomariov, who is back among the world's elite?

The following twelve grandmasters will take part (between brackets their country and their rating in the March 1, 2010 world rankings): Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651).


Every day four sessions will be played, two blindfold sessions and two rapid sessions. The first session starts at 14.30 CET. The fourth session finishes around 20.00 CET. The final round on March 25 starts at 12.30 CET. March 17 and 22 are rest days. The rate of play is 25 minutes per game per player. With every move made in the blindfold games 20 seconds is added to the clock, with every move made in the rapid games 10 seconds is added.

Like in previous years, many more will be posted on the official website during the tournament. Besides, you can expect something new this year: live chess with audio commentary, streaming footage from the playing hall and live commentary sessions with the top GMs!

Link

Share |
Peter Doggers's picture
Author: Peter Doggers

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.

SmartChess! - Revolutionize your game

World Youth Under 16 Chess Olympiad

Comments

Mauricio Valdes's picture

Mauricio Valdes

1 year 11 months ago

@CAL
They play Blinfold, they switch colors, and the play rapid.
2 games against each other.

Wale's picture

Wale

1 year 11 months ago

I think magnus carlson will win the amber turnament...i look forward to seeing carlson become the world champion!

Mauricio Valdes's picture

Mauricio Valdes

1 year 11 months ago

As I posted in a previous article.
1. Kramnik
2. Carlsen
3. Aronian

Labelled's picture

Labelled

1 year 11 months ago

@mauricio

I second that:)

Mauricio Valdes's picture

Mauricio Valdes

1 year 11 months ago

@Laballed
Thank you!

I second you "seconding" that!

Nemrod's picture

Nemrod

1 year 11 months ago

As always, Kramnik will be a force in blindfold, as for rapid, he isn't that bad either ;)
Both Carlsen and Aronian are way too strong. But who knows, Ivanchuk could decide he wants to win the tournament and that's all over for everyone.
Now the question is, who will be fighting for the last place?

unknown's picture

unknown

1 year 11 months ago

Magnus Carlsen about Amber2010 on his blog:

http://arcticsec.no/index.php?button=blog&main_image=35

antichrist's picture

antichrist

1 year 11 months ago

Carlsen is the favourite to win and the top seed.

Good enough reason to vote for him if you ask me.

It's good to be numero uno

gg's picture

gg

1 year 11 months ago

"Kramnik!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
.
Kramnik again will show that he’s invencible in blind chess
He’ll perform a perfect score in blind."

Yeah.

leandro's picture

leandro

1 year 11 months ago

Kramnik!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
.
Kramnik again will show that he's invencible in blind chess
He'll perform a perfect score in blind.
....
in rapid he'll do it again.

VladimirOo's picture

VladimirOo

1 year 11 months ago

Funny, that many chose Smeets: go on Dutch!

unknown's picture

unknown

1 year 11 months ago

Chucky will surprise us all!

Pity that Moro won't play.

Ron's picture

Ron

1 year 11 months ago

Is Amber Blindfold the true indication of a player's talent? No board, no tricks from the opponent, just the pieces and the imagination...

CAL|Daniel's picture

CAL|Daniel

1 year 11 months ago

Do they play the same opponent in Rapid and Blindfold with White and Black? Ie 4 games against same guy with RR? or how does it work?

Gamb's picture

Gamb

1 year 11 months ago

Frankly it's a stupid and silly concept...but i'll end up following it anyway, I guess.

An Afghan's picture

An Afghan

1 year 11 months ago

I think Nakamura is saying . anybody can win this event because I AM NOT IN LIST.

Paul's picture

Paul

1 year 11 months ago

Great tournement thanks to van Oosterom, the players love it, the (internet)audience loves it. I don't understand the critisism ..it's the 19th guys! If you don't love this Amber you don't love chess! I'm realy looking forward to Carlsen"s performance as he is the favorite, it would be great if he can perform again under this pressure, but would looooove to see Ivanchuk and Aronian share first place!

jon's picture

jon

1 year 11 months ago

1. Aronian
2.-4. Smeets, Kramnik, Carlsen

Laurie's picture

Laurie

1 year 11 months ago

I think Kramnik will win the blindfold event, his record speaks for itself. A Four time winner and seven time winner;overall, wow ! that's quite impressive!
His best days are behind him in the rapidplay event, although he still remains one of the strongest speed chess players in the world.One must not forget that he defeated Kasparov in (two separate Intel Grand Prix Events in New York -1994 and Moscow Kremlin 1996).
Kramnik has a poor record against Grischuck.If he loses one or both games,I doubt he will win the overall event.If he does; either the former or the later- he must look to target the other two newcomers to the event ;Smeets and Ponamoriov

ab's picture

ab

1 year 11 months ago

why there are always only 3 live games?? bad, we want see all games.

Peter Doggers's picture

Peter Doggers

1 year 11 months ago

Because only three games are played at the same time.

ab's picture

ab

1 year 11 months ago

oops, yes?
all games at the same time were better:)

Your comment

Speak your mind

By posting a comment you are agreeing to abide our Terms & Conditions