Dortmund Tournament starts soon
The annual supertournament in Dortmund will start on the 28th June and run until the 6th July. The confirmed field includes World Championship contender Vladimir Kramnik (pictured) and the seemingly omnipresent Vassily Ivanchuk.
The full line up is:
| Vladimir Kramnik | Russia | 2788 |
| Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | Azerbaijan | 2752 |
| Peter Leko | Hungary | 2741 |
| Vassily Ivanchuk | Ukraine | 2740 |
| Loek Van Wely | Netherlands | 2676 |
| Ian Nepomniachtchi | Russia | 2634 |
| Arkadij Naiditsch | Germany | 2623 |
| Jan Gustafsson | Germany | 2603 |
Naiditsch and Gustafsson are the local entrants and 17 year-old Nepomniachtchi qualifies by virtue of winning the 2008 Aeroflot Open in Moscow. Kramnik has been inactive lately and it will be interesting to see how he fares compared to Ivanchuk who has been so active and successful that he is now rated higher that Kramnik on the unoffical live ratings. However, Kramnik will be very much at home in Dortmund, being the current champion and having won there an amazing 8 times over 15 years!
The tournament is the centrepiece of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting which includes 2 large open tournaments. The main event is a single round-robin.
Look out for coverage at Chess.com!
