Shirov Takes On Anand In León

In previous years the chess festival in León, Spain has featured a 4-player rapid tournament.  This year we have just two players taking part - but what players they are!

World champion Vishy Anand will be the favourite in the 6-game rapid match against Alexei "Fire on Board" Shirov.  Both men have strong Spanish connections having lived/previously lived there, and Latvian-born Shirov has represented Spain in chess events for many years.

The games take place from 3-5 June, with 2 games played each day. The time control for the games is a relatively 'slow' rapid rate of 45 minutes plus a 30 second increment (or possibly 60 minutes plus 10 seconds according to the original press release). If the scores are level after the 6 rapid games there will be 2 games of blitz at 5 minutes/game, and if necessary an Armageddon game.

38 year-old Shirov enters the contest in good form on the back of his tournament win in Lublin, Poland, but Vishy Anand is a very strong rapid player so we should see some very entertaining games!

The official site can be found here, and the live games link at the site takes you here. Games start at 16:30m local time in Spain (14:30 UTC, 10:30 Eastern). UPDATE - the direct link for the games broadcast is here, and there is live video with Spanish commentary here.