Meanwhile, Ivanchuk just plays

While his missed drug test in Dresden has become the subject of a heated discussion in the chess world, the main character in this story is simply continueing what he loves most: playing chess. Ivanchuk currenly stars in Benidorm, Spain, and will be one of the participants in the new super tournament in Nanjing, China, starting next week.

As reported by Chess Today, the current situation in the "Ivanchuk Case" is that FIDE will probably meet with Ivanchuk during the Corus Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee tournament. There and then the Ukrainian top player will have a chance to tell his side of the story, after which the FIDE Medical Commission will make a decision.

At the moment Ivanchuk is playing in Benidorm, Spain together with Alexei Shirov, Sergei Tiviakov, Kateryna Lahno, Xavi Vila and Sabrina Vega. The group is called the Grand Torneo de las Estrellas (grand tournament of the stars) and it's part of the 7th annual festival which includes many side events like blitz and rapid opens, simuls, you name it. The link for the "Estrellas" live games should be this one although it currently shows some other games.

Next week a brand new super tournament will take off: the Pearl Spring Chess Tournament in Nanjing, China. The set-up is identical to the MTel Masters: a double, six-player round-robin. Ivanchuk, who won that last MTel with an amazing score, will face three other participants who were also in Sofia: Topalov, Aronian and Bu Xiangzhi. The other two are Peter Svidler and Sergei Movsesian. Much more on that tournament later; here's the link to the official website.