Kramnik Vs Aronian Match Website
With only one month before the start of the 6-game classical match in Zurich between Vladimir Kramnik and Levon Aronian, the official website has been launched.
The match is titled as the "Zurich Chess Challenge" and the website promises live commentary on the games from two Swiss players GM Yannick Pelletier and IM Werner Hug. There will also be videos from Macauley Peterson.
The time control is confirmed as 40 moves in 120 minutes, followed by 20 moves in 60 minutes, and then 15 minutes plus a 30 second increment to finish.
If any of the games end in a draw after less than 3 hours play, there will be a rapid game to entertain the watching fans (not counting towards the match score).
The main sponsor is IGC (International Gemological Laboratories). The schedule:
| 21 April | Game 1 |
| 22 April | Game 2 |
| 23 April | Rest Day |
| 24 April | Game 3 |
| 25 April | Game 4 |
| 26 April | Rest Day |
| 27 April | Game 5 |
| 28 April | Game 6 |
All games start at 15:00 local time (13:00 UTC) except the final game which is 2 hours earlier.
Levon Aronian is currently ranked #2 in the world with a rating of 2820 Elo, and Vladimir Kramnik is ranked #3 in the world with 2801 Elo.
Although it's just a 'training' match, both men will hopefully make the most of the opportunity for some match practice with hard fought games.
A video of the clash between these two gladiators at the 2010 World Blitz Championship is below (via Mikhail Kalenkov on YouTube):
How do you think the match will end? Predict the score in the comments!
