
Only 3 Spots Remaining in London Chess Classic
More than three-quarters of the 16 spots for the 5th London Chess Classic have now been filled. The festival will take place from December 7-15, 2013, with the marquee event running for the final five days.
GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Boris Gelfand, GM Peter Svidler, and GM Judit Polgar accepted their invitations last week. GM Vladimir Kramnik was already committed, as was GM Hikaru Nakamura.

The tournament will not be a classical time control this year. The organizers said this is to accomodate GM Viswanathan Anand, who will have just finished the world championship match in India (GM Magnus Carlsen is not currently on this list of players). The rapid event will be a hybrid "knockout" style, with advancement coming after six games of group play. See the format here.
The best half-dozen English players have also confirmed their participation: GM Luke McShane, GM Michael Adams, GM Nigel Short, GM Matthew Sadler, GM Gawain Jones and GM David Howell. This leaves only three spots left to be filled.

The Classic will again have a chess festival, including a FIDE Open and Women's Invitational.
