London Chess Classic Kicks Off Tomorrow
This Saturday, Dec. 6, the London Chess Classic kicks off at Olympia in Kensington with the Super Rapidplay Open.
Six top GMs will be crossing swords with amateurs.
The London Chess Classic has never shied away from innovations, and for the sixth edition there's yet again something new.
On the first two days, this Saturday and Sunday, an open rapid tournament will be held in which the six top GMs (who will play classical chess later in the week) will participate!
The big names are Fabiano Caruana, Viswanathan Anand (shortly after his match with Magnus Carlsen), Hikaru Nakamura, Vladimir Kramnik (right after the Qatar Masters Open), Anish Giri (likewise) and Michael Adams.
London Chess Classic 214 | Participants
|
No. |
Name |
Country |
Age |
Classical Rating |
Classical Ranking |
Rapid Rating |
Rapid Ranking |
|
1 |
Fabiano Caruana |
Italy |
22 |
2829 |
2 |
2858 |
1 |
|
2 |
Viswanathan Anand |
India |
44 |
2793 |
6 |
2809 |
6 |
|
3 |
Hikaru Nakamura |
USA |
26 |
2775 |
7 |
2800 |
9 |
|
4 |
Vladimir Kramnik |
Russia |
39 |
2769 |
9 |
2773 |
13 |
|
5 |
Anish Giri |
Netherlands |
20 |
2768 |
10 |
2674 |
70 |
|
6 |
Michael Adams |
England |
43 |
2745 |
14 |
2764 |
17 |
Other players who will compete over the weekend include Matthew Sadler, Simen Agdestein, Eduardo Iturrizaga, Loek van Wely, Aleksandr Lenderman (also coming from straight from Qatar!), David Howell, Luke McShane, Gawain Jones, Simon Williams (commentator in Qatar) and John Nunn. Full list here.
The time control is 25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment. The first prize is £8,000 (€10,155 / $12,548).
Another nice touch is that the “Super Six,” as the top participants were dubbed, will be paired against junior players in the first round. Thereafter, tournament pairings will be made in the usual way.
On Monday evening the elite group of six players will take part in a blitz tournament that will determine the drawing of colors for the main event, which will be held Wednesday-Sunday, Dec. 10-14. This is a single round-robin with a classical time control.
On Tuesday, there is a sponsor event. It is a doubles chess rapidplay knock-out tournament in which eight super-GMs — the Super Six (Fabiano Caruana, Vishy Anand, Vlad Kramnik, Anish Giri, Hikaru Nakamura and Mickey Adams) plus Nigel Short and Gawain Jones — partner with top business leaders in competition for the prestigious Pro-Biz Cup currently held by Barclays Bank.
The time control will be 25 minutes for each two-player team. During the game, the two players of each team alternate moves without conferring.
A new rule this year allows teams to take two one-minute time-outs in order to confer during a game. All proceeds from this fun mini-tournament go to the Chess in School and Communities charity.
