So what’s next?

After many rapid and ‘real’ tournaments, many of you might be sick of chess by now. The real die hards however are reading this and probably think: what’s next?

Well, a chess summer chuck full of new events, that’s what next. In the coming months, many traditional opens and new elite events are scheduled. Here’s a selection.

June 28 - July 6 Sparkassen Chess Meeting (Dortmund, Germany)
The annual top tournament that prefers to go its own way, and so this single eight-player round-robin is not part of the Grand Slam. The field is somewhat weaker than we’re used to, but still quite interesting: Vladimir Kramnik (2788), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2752), Peter Leko (2741), Vassily Ivanchuk (2740), Loek van Wely (2677), Ian Nepomniachtchi (2634), Arkadij Naiditsch (2624) and Jan Gustafsson (2603).

July 8 - 17 Karpov tournament (Poikovsky, Russia)
Participants: Shirov, Jakovenko, Rublevsky, Wang Hao, Inarkiev, Volokitin, Gashimov, Bologan, Onischuk and Sutovsky. (Source: Chess Today)

July 19 - 27 Politiken Cup (Copenhagen, Denmark)
This year, the Politiken Cup in Denmark promises to be one of the biggest events of the calendar. At the moment of writing more than 150 people have already subscribed. Thus far the strongest participants are Vladimir Malakhov (2689), Pavel Eljanov (2687), Michael Roiz (2659), Sergey Tiviakov (2635), Peter Heine Nielsen (2629) and Michal Krasenkow (2624).

July 19 - August 1 Biel Chess Festival (Biel, Switzerland)
Besides several open, rapid and blitz events, the festival includes a strong round-robin again, with this year Magnus Carlsen (2752 2765), Evgeny Alekseev (2711), Etienne Bacrot (2703), Leinier Dominguez (2695), Alexander Onischuk (2664) and Yannick Pelletier (2607).

July 28 - August 3 Chess Classic Mainz (Mainz, Germany)
If you’re thinking about paying the festival in Mainz a visit, I can only say: you should. Organizer Hans-Walter Schmitt sure knows how to organize and creates a wonderful chess spectacle every year. Both fans of Chess960 and rapid chess get a chance to sit next, or opposed, to 2700 players. And at night, you can watch the FiNet Chess960 Rapid Woman World Championship with Kosteniuk, Zhukova, Cmilyte and Lahno (July 29-31) or the Grenkeleasing Rapid World Championship with Anand, Carlsen, Morozevich and Polgar (August 1-3).

July 30 - August 15 2nd Grand Prix (Sochi, Russia)
The first FIDE Grand Prix tournament (in Baku) was won by Gashimov, Wang Yue and Carlsen. The second, in a total of six, starts July 30 with Svidler (2763 2746), Ivanchuk (2751 2740), Aronian (2739 2763), Gelfand (2737 2723), Radjabov (2735 2751), Karjakin (2732), Kamsky (2726), Jakovenko (2720 2711), Cheparinov (2713 2696), Grischuk (2711 2716), Wang Yue (2698 2689), Navara (2680 2672), Gashimov (2665 2679) and Al Modiahki (2569 2554)..

August 18 - September 1 Tal Memorial (Moscow, Russia)
We’ll try to update the info on this year’s Tal Memorial as soon as possible.

August 20 - 30 NH Chess Tournament (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Again at Dam square, in the heart of the city of Amsterdam, this tournament will have two teams of ‘experience’ and ‘rising stars’ fighting each other. For the talents, there’s the desirable ticket to the 2009 Amber tournament to win. This year the Experience team includes the legendary Viktor Korchnoi, as well as Artur Jussupow, Evgeny Bareev, Simen Agdestein and Ljubomir Ljubojevic. They will face strong opposition from Rising Stars Ivan Cheparinov, Wang Yue, Fabiano Caruana, Daniel Stellwagen and Erwin l’Ami.