Zurich Chess Challenge 2013
World Champion Vishy Anand aims to repeat his recent success in the Grenke Chess Classic in Baden-Baden when he takes part in the Zurich Chess Challenge 2013 from 23 Feb - 1 March.
The Zurich tournament is a 4-player double round-robin featuring Vishy Anand, world #2 ranked Vladimir Kramnik, Fabiano Caruana and Boris Gelfand.
| Name | Fed | Elo |
| Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | 2810 |
| Viswanathan Anand | IND | 2780 |
| Fabiano Caruana | ITA | 2757 |
| Boris Gelfand | ISR | 2740 |
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The time control will be 2 hours for 40 moves, then 1 hour for the next 20 moves, and 15 minutes plus a 30-second increment for the remainder of the game. If a game is drawn before move 40, the players involved will play an additional rapid exhibition game (not counting towards the tournament score).
Although the line-up is smaller than in Baden-Baden, it is also stronger and the choice of players is fascinating: Kramnik and Gelfand have both lost world championship matches to Anand, and Caruana only just lost out to the champion in the recent Grenke Chess Classic.
Playing Schedule (times = GMT+1)
| Sat | Feb-23 | 15:00 | Round 1 |
| Sun | Feb-24 | 15:00 | Round 2 |
| Mon | Feb-25 | 15:00 | Round 3 |
| Tue | Feb-26 | Rest Day | |
| Wed | Feb-27 | 15:00 | Round 4 |
| Thu | Feb-28 | 15:00 | Round 5 |
| Fri | Mar-01 | 13:00 | Round 6 |
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The tournament is being staged by the Zurich Chess Club and the main sponsor is Oleg Skvortsov of International Gemological Laboratories. The venue will be the Savoy Hotel, Paradeplatz.
The 2013 Zurich tournament marks the sixtieth anniversary of the legendary 1953 Candidates Tournament, won by Vassily Smyslov.
The official website with more information and coverage is here.
Clockwise from top left: Anand, Kramnik, Gelfand, Caruana.
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Photos from the official website.
