London Chess Classic: all participants confirmed

All players of the 2011 London Chess Classic have confirmed their participation: Magnus Carlsen, Vishy Anand, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura, Michael Adams, Nigel Short, Luke McShane and David Howell. The third edition will take place at the Olympia Conference Centre in Kensington from Saturday 3rd December to Monday 12th December.

The 3rd edition of what has already become one of the world’s most prestigious tournaments will be bigger and better than its predecessors, with more children’s events and an even stronger field. With Levon Aronian making his debut in London, all three 2800+ players will participate.

3rd London Chess Classic | Participants

Rank	Name	Title	Country	Rating	B-Year
1	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2821	1990
2	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2817	1969
3	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2805	1982
5	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2781	1975
6	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2770	1987
28	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2715	1971
51	Short, Nigel D	g	ENG	2687	1965
74	McShane, Luke J	g	ENG	2671	1984
149	Howell, David W L	g	ENG	2625	1990

There will be two extra rounds, as the addition of one more top flight player to this year’s main event will make it a nine player all play all. One player will sit out each day and keep the spectators at Olympia and online, doubly entertained by joining the commentary team.

Children

The tournament is in direct cooperation with the Chess in Schools and Communities, the organization which aims to put a chess club in every school in England and Wales and already operates in eight towns and cities around the UK and in 64 schools. In 2010, 500 children came for free chess lessons from GMs IMs and top chess coaches. This year the organizers will double the number of invitations to schools and free lessons will be available on five days.

Side events

This year will be a day of chess cultural events with lectures and film screenings including the recently released documentary Bobby Fischer against the World. The traditional Open tournament and Blitz will be supplemented by two weekend congresses and this also means that players in the Open will only have to take five days off work to play all nine rounds.