Legends Play In Zurich
If your chess club were celebrating it's 200th anniversary, how would you celebrate?
Zurich Chess Club - the oldest chess club in the world - chose to invite a few friends to give simuls and then play in a rapid competition. Who were the friends? Well, some of the names may be vaguely familiar! 
- Vishy Anand
- Garry Kasparov
- Anatoly Karpov
- Vladimir Kramnik
- Veselin Topalov
- Viktor Korchnoi
- Boris Spassky
- Ruslan Ponomariov
Phew! That's quite a mouthwatering line-up! On Saturday 22 August, in the imposing surroundings of Zurich Train Station the legends above each gave a simultaneous exhibition to 25 lucky amateurs. Of the 200 games played, the legends won 161 and drew 35, losing just 4. Ponomariov outshone the others, winning all 25 of his games! The full results can be found here, and a selection of the games are available for replay here.
The following day the legends competed against each other, although sadly Kasparov, Spassky and Korchnoi were not participating. In their place were former FIDE World Champion Alexander Khalifman, the best woman player of all time, Judit Polgar and Swiss IM Werner Hug - a Zurich Chess Club member and former junior world champion.
The honours in this remarkable event went to Vladimir Kramnik with 5/7, just pipping World Champion Vishy Anand by half a point.
| Kramnik, Vladimir | RUS | 2759 | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 5 |
| Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2788 | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 4½ |
| Topalov, Veselin | BUL | 2813 | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4 |
| Ponomariov, Ruslan | UKR | 2727 | ½ | ½ | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Khalifman, Alexander | RUS | 2612 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | 3 |
| Polgar, Judit | HUN | 2687 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | * | ½ | 0 | 2½ |
| Hug, Werner | SUI | 2453 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 2½ |
| Karpov, Anatoly | RUS | 2644 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | * | 2½ |
Congratulations to Kramnik and thanks to Zurich Chess Club and sponsors Credit Suisse for organising such a memorable celebration. The official website has more details, including interviews and lots of wonderful photos.
