'London Chess Classic' 2009

Despite it's proud chess history, the United Kingdom has seen very few strong tournaments in recent years - or decades come to that.

It is therefore with no small sense of excitement and anticipation that the London Chess Centre has announced the staging of the 'London Chess Classic' in December. 

Malcolm Pein of the London Chess Centre has put together an attractive and impressive mix of English and overseas players for this inagural event:

There is a guaranteed prize fund of 100,000 euros, including a 10,000 euros Brilliant Game prize.  Fighting spirit will also be encouraged by bonus prizes for wins, and the adoption of a '3 points for a win' scoring system.

The sponsor has not yet been revealed, but is thought to be a private individual.

Here is the full press release:

Cream of world chess to play in new London tournament

The London Chess Centre is pleased to announce that the line up for the London Chess Classic 2009 is complete after GM David Howell of England accepted his invitation. This creates a balance to the event, an eight player all play all, with four world class players pitched against England's four highest rated Grandmasters. Using the latest available ratings and information supplied by the players on their recent successes, the tournament rating average is currently well above 2690 and may reach 2700 by December.

Nigel Short and Hikaru Nakamura are both in great shape. Nigel recently dominated the Sigeman tournament at Malmo and Hikaru won the US Championship held at St Louis. Vladimir Kramnik was top scorer at the Azerbaijan v Rest of the World match with 6.5/8.

Play begins Tuesday December 8th and runs until Tuesday December 15th 2009.

The venue for what will be the most prestigious chess tournament in the capital for 25 years will be announced shortly.

Malcolm Pein (IM) Director London Chess Centre