European Club Cup 2008

Just what will the rest of the world's top chess players be doing when the World Chess Championship between Vladimir Kramnik and Vishy Anand is taking place next month in Germany?

You might think they would take a break and enjoy the match with everyone else, but you'd be wrong.  Many of them will be taking part in one of the strongest team chess events of the year.  The European Club Cup being held in Greece from 16-24 October is a seven round Swiss event featuring a veritable who's who of the best players in the world representing their chosen club teams.

Entries are still being confirmed, but the list of participants already includes...Carlsen (pictured), Morozevich, Ivanchuk, Radjabov, Mamedyarov, Shirov, Svidler, Aronian, Adams, Grischuk, Kamsky, Karjakin, Gelfand and many more.  See the list below of the players rated over 2600 Elo - all 79 of them!

There is a parallel women's event which has a no less impressive line-up which includes the likes of Humpy Koneru, Xie Jun, Hou Yifan, Antoaneta Stefanova, Pia Cramling and Kateryna Lahno.

The men's teams have 6 players; the women's teams 4.

So if watching one game a day is just not enough for you during the Anand-Kramnik match, you could always check out this amazing event.