Three times rapid

After the ACP World Rapid Cup, three more rapid events will be held this month. Already tomorrow a match between Ivanchuk and Navara starts in Prague and next week there's both a match between Anand and Leko in Miskolc, and the traditional event in Leon with this year Carlsen, Ivanchuk, Morozevich and Wang Yue playing.


Navara-Ivanchuk rapid match Everyone agrees on it, including Vassily Ivanchuk himself: some rest would do him good. However, he has committed himself to several new events, and we can find him behind the chess board already tomorrow!

The Ukrainian will play an eight-game rapid match against the best Czech player, David Navara. Venue is the Best Western Kampa hotel in Prague. The match is the main attraction of the chess festival CEZ CHESS TROPHY 2009, organized by the Prague Chess Society. The two will play on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, two games each day, at 17:00 and at 19:00 CET.

All games will be broadcast online, and commented for the audience in the hotel by the Czech-American grandmaster Lubomir Kavalek. The match will be complemented by a chess simul and by lectures by grandmasters Lubomir Kavalek, Vlastimil Hort and Jan Plachetka. The chess festival CEZ CHESS TROPHY 2009 is held in a partnership with the capital city Prague.

Website: Prague Chess Society

Leko-Anand rapid match Next week it's time for a very similar event in Miskolc, Hungary, where Peter Leko has been playing rapid matches against different opponents for years now. This year he faces the strongest opponent possible: Viswanathan Anand, the current World Champion and 11-times rapid World Champion.

Like Ivanchuk and Navara, the two will play an eight-game rapid match. Venue is the National Theater in Miskolc; the dates are June 2nd to 7th. Mirroring the schedule in Prague this week, two games a day will be played on Wednesday (June 3), Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, at 16:30 and 18:00 CET.

Website: Leko-Anand

XXII Ciudad de Leon Masters Almost simultaneously with Leko-Anand, from June 4th to 7th, the 22nd edition of the traditional chess tournament in Leon, Spain takes place. Like in previous years, the format is two semi-finals on Friday, a match for 3rd and 4th place on Saturday and the final on Sunday.

Over the years Leon has seen the world's best players. and this year the city welcomes Magnus Carlsen, Alexander Morozevich, Vassily Ivanchuk (!) and Wang Yue. Besides the games there will be some parallel activities as well: a lecture by Ivanchuk, simuls by Morozevich, a lecture class by Illescas, a chess cinema week and a Young Talents tournament.

Spanish journalist and Le??n press officer Leontxo Garcia made your editor-in-chief an offer I couldn't refuse and so I will be covering the tournament from Leon! I'm curious and excited, since the event makes a very professional impression. The press releases (yes, organizers, that's the way to do it: send several press releases in the months before your even starts!) say:

Those who maintain that chess doesn’t fit well on TV have probably never watched the Leon Chess Masters. The players’ faces reflecting a huge tension on time trouble attract even those who know nothing about chess. The Castilla y Leon TV catches the idea: it will produce a daily special program during the tournament (June, 5-7th) and broadcast the end of every game live.

In order to fit well on TV, chess has to be transformed into a good show, and not only by speeding the game. Remote control cameras at the stage (and even on the playing table), electronic boards, giant screens, GM commentary for the spectators’ headphones and, not less important, a nice and suitable venue. The Junta de Castilla y Leon (regional government) building’s assembly hall has been an excellent one for many years, but we now have a better one: the Auditorium, equipped with the latest technology.

The Castilla y Leon TV will rely on four professional and experienced chess commentators for its broadcasting: GM Miguel Illescas, Jesus Boyero, Miguel Angel Nepomuceno and Leontxo Garcia. The company's main executives know the very successful background to chess on TV in Spain, always produced by Televisi??n Espa?±ola, the public channel: 50 daily programs during the Kasparov-Karpov World Championship, Seville 87; the very exciting last game of that match was broadcasted live, with 13 million spectators (official statistics); and the 39 programs of the weekly En Jaque, from September 1990 to June 1991, including two games Kasparov vs. spectators.

As you can imagine I'm looking forward to attending this tournament. Hopefully I can learn from the TV crew over there and implement some ideas in our chess videos here at ChessVibes!

Website: Ciudad de Leon Masters