Upcoming events

Leon Tournament and Leko - Carlsen Match

In recent years Peter Leko, the Hungarian grandmaster and former World Championship challenger, has taken on a succession of strong grandmasters in annual rapid events.  In the hot seat this year is the young Norwegian prodigy, Magnus Carlsen (pictured).

Leko is ranked 10th in the world and is an experienced match player, but will this be enough to withstand Carlsen, who is already ranked 5th in the world at just 17 years of age?

The 8-game match will run from 28 May to 1 June.  The official website is here, and regular reports will appear at Chess.com.

Overlapping this event is the 21st annual rapid tournament in Leon, Spain, which will start on the 30th May.  Four very strong players will be taking part in this year's event:

• Vishy Anand - the current World Champion, from India
  
• Vassily Ivanchuk - the popular Ukranian, and recent winner of the MTel Masters
• Alexei Shirov - 'Fire on Board' from the Latvian, famous for his tactical skill
• Francisco Vallejo Pons - the strongest native Spanish player

There will be two semi-finals played on the 30/31 May, with the winners playing in the final on 1 June.  Each match will consist of four rapid games (20 minutes/game plus a 10 second increment per move) with a blitz playoff if necessary.

The official website is here, and regular reports will appear at Chess.com.