Update on Bilbao, Nanjing and London

The dates of the Grand Slam Final Masters in Bilbao have been changed, the list of players for the Nanjing super-tournament has been changed and the venue of the London super-tournament has been announced. An update on the information about three important, upcoming tournaments.

BILBAO At the start of September, shortly before the Nanjing super tournament (see below) the 2nd Grand Slam Masters Final takes place in Bilbao, Spain. (Link to 2008 website.) The participants are the winners of the four Grand Slam tournaments: Alexander Grischuk (Linares), Sergei Karjakin (Wijk aan Zee), Alexei Shirov (Sofia) and Veselin Topalov (Nanjing).

As the organizers informed us, the schedule for the Grand Slam Final Masters will be as follows:

5th September: Drawing of lots and presentation of the tournament 6th September: 1st Round 7th September: 2nd Round 8th September: 3rd Round 9th September: Rest day 10th September: 4th Round 11th September: 5th Round 12th September: 6th Round 12th September: Closing ceremony

The games will start at 17:00 CET. The last round, September 12th, will start at 16:00 CET. The playing venue will be the same stage that hosted the 2008 Bilbao Masters Final. The Bilbao Plaza Nueva (central square), in the heart of the city, will again host the great glass cube.

From the schedule we can conclude that the 4-player tournament will only be a double round-robin. There had been rumours that it might be followed with some kind of playoff with matches, but apparently this option won't be a reality.

NANJING Although we haven't received anything official from the organizers, we think that by now it's safe to believe that the participants of the 2nd Nanjing Grand Slam tournament, to be held September 27th – October 9th in Nanjing, China will be Veselin Topalov, Magnus Carlsen, Teimour Radjabov, Dmitry Jakovenko, Peter Leko and Wang Yue. These are the six players who currently appear on the official website - both the Chinese and the English version.

Apparently the organizers haven't been able to come to an agreement with Viswanathan Anand, whose photo had been on the website for a while, and instead it's now Peter Leko going to China. As said before, this information is not yet official, but we thought it worthwhile to include the "photo change" in this post on three super-tournaments.

The tournament will be a 6-player double round robin and just like last year, but this time officially, it will be the first tournament of the new Grand Slam series. Also in Nanjing from September 27th to October 9th the 2nd Fide Women Grand Prix tournament will be held, with again 12 female top players competing. The 1st edition in the 2009-2010 series was held March 5-20 this year and was won by Humpy Koneru.

LONDON We already knew the complete field of the London super-tournament: Michael Adams, Magnus Carlsen, David Howell, Vladimir Kramnik, Luke McShane, Hikaru Nakamura, Ni Hua and Nigel Short. We also already knew its dates: December 8th-15th, 2009. Now the venue has also been announced:

I am delighted to announce that the London Chess Classic 2009 will be staged at one of London’s most prestigious venues; the Olympia Conference Centre. Olympia will provide excellent facilities including a 400 seat soundproof auditorium, two commentary rooms and multimedia presentation. There will be ample space for Open, weekend and Speed Chess tournaments plus junior training which will run alongside the main event from December 8th-15th inclusive.

The London Chess Classic 2009 will be the highest level tournament in London for 25 years and will be the first in a series of events designed to increase enthusiasm for chess in the UK and promote the game and its undoubted educational benefits in schools and communities. It is also our objective to bring the world championship to London in the Olympic year 2012.

England’s four leading Grandmasters; Michael Adams, Nigel Short, Luke McShane and David Howell will be pitched against a world class field that includes a former world champion Vladimir Kramnik and 18 year old Magnus Carlsen ranked world number three and widely seen a future holder of the world crown. One of China’s finest players; Ni Hua and the US Champion Hikaru Nakamura, complete the field.

Spectators will be treated to live commentary on the games from Grandmasters and will be able to play tournament or informal games all day. Ticket information will be available in September. For those who cannot attend there be will live coverage and commentary on the games on the internet.

Malcolm Pein London Chess Centre