Anand and Carlsen to star in London Chess Classic 2010

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand will become the first reigning world chess champion to play in a major tournament in London since Anatoly Karpov in 1984 when he joins the eight-player field for the second London Chess Classic, which runs from 8-15 December 2010 at the Olympia Conference Centre.

 

Alongside him will be World Number one Magnus Carlsen, former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, US number one Hikaru Nakamura and the top four English players Michael Adams, Nigel Short, Luke McShane and David Howell.

 

IM Malcolm Pein is back as tournament director.

 

Vishy Anand is the one change from the stellar field which brought spectators flocking to London to watch elite chess in December 2009. The great Indian player, who will turn 41 during the tournament, recently retained his title as the undisputed champion of the world by defeating Veselin Topalov in the latter’s home city of Sofia, Bulgaria. In London he will meet his immediate predecessor as champion, Vladimir Kramnik, 36, of Russia, and also the young man who is currently riding high as the world’s highest rated player and widely tipped to be Anand’s next challenger – Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who will be 20 by the time the tournament starts.

 

Read the full details here including profiles of all the players.

 

London is thus privileged to witness a clash of the past, present and likely future chess champions. At the time of writing Carlsen is world number one on the FIDE (World Chess Federation) Rating List, Kramnik is number three and Anand number four. Looking forward, London is also bidding to host the 2012 World Championship title match, so Anand’s clashes with Carlsen and Kramnik could well be a preview of what happens in London’s Olympic year.

 

 

Five more players make up the field of eight, all of whom played in the exciting 2009 event. Each one earned his place for his fighting play last year. The fourth non-British player is Hikaru Nakamura, USA, who will turn 23 during the London event. The American is known as the ‘H-Bomb’ for his explosive and totally uncompromising style of play. He has won the US Championship twice and also won major events in San Sebastian and Gibraltar in the past couple of years. He is improving all the time and can be expected to press hard for wins against the leading trio of players.

 

England has an established quartet of elite players and all four will be playing in London. Michael Adams, 39, from Cornwall, has recently wrested back his position as England number one and he spent a number of years as the world number four. He is fresh from winning the prestigious Gibraltar International. Nigel Short, 45, became a chess legend when he broke the Kasparov-Karpov stranglehold on world title matches, beating Anatoly Karpov on the way to a title match with Garry Kasparov in 1993. He is still one of the most entertaining players on the circuit – and not to be missed in the commentary room after the game! Luke McShane, 26, started a financial career after university but couldn’t resist the lure of the international chess scene. He is now re-establishing his status as one of the most talented of the world’s young grandmasters. David Howell, 20 in November, had a sensational elite tournament debut in this event last year when he finished third behind Carlsen and Kramnik. He had recently won the British Championship by a handsome margin and has subsequently shared first at Hastings and won the British Rapidplay Championship for the second year in succession.

 

Tournament Line-Up

 

Name	Title	Country	Rating (May 2010)	World Rnk May	Date of Birth
Carlsen, Magnus	grandmaster	NOR	2813	1	30.11.1990
Kramnik, Vladimir	ex-world champion	RUS	2790	3	25.06.1975
Anand, Viswanathan	world champion	IND	2789	4	11.12.1969
Nakamura, Hikaru	grandmaster	USA	2733	19	09.12.1987
Adams, Michael	grandmaster	ENG	2697	41	17.11.1971
Short, Nigel	grandmaster	ENG	2685	48	01.06.1965
McShane, Luke	grandmaster	ENG	2623	138	07.01.1984
Howell, David	grandmaster	ENG	2620	144	14.11.1990

 

Format: 8 players and all play all. Seven rounds.

 

Category: The event is currently Category 19 and 2700+ but quite close to 2725.

 

Rules: Classical time control like Linares. 40/2, 20/1, g/15'+30". Sofia Rules.

 

Prize fund: 145,000 Euros before tax. An increase of 25,000 Euros.

 

6 main prizes: 1st 50000 Euros, 2nd 25000 Euros, 3rd 15000 Euros, 4th 10000 Euros, 5th 10000 Euros, 6th 8000 Euros

Total: 118,000 Euros.

 

7 x Daily Best Game prizes of 1,000 Euros = 7,000 Euros. These will be voted on by the public.

 

A winners’ pool of 20,000 Euros for each game won. At the end of the tournament we will count the number of wins and establish the prize for each win. Each win will be of equal value. For example if there are twenty decisive games then the prize will be 1000 Euros per win.

 

Prize fund breakdown

118,000 + 7,000 + 20,000 = 145,000 Euros.

 

Tickets will go on sale in September.

 

IM Malcolm Pein announces a new edition of the London Chess Classic

 

Tournament Director Malcolm Pein   photo © John Saunders

 

IM Malcolm Pein announces a new edition of the London Chess Classic where he is tournament director. Viswanathan Anand strengthens the field from last year.

 

I am delighted to announce that the 2nd London Chess Classic will be held at the Olympia Conference Centre from December 8th to 15th. I have managed to put together an even more illustrious field than last year for what will indisputably be the strongest chess tournament ever held on these shores. Seven of the eight players from last year will return but Ni Hua of China will be replaced by Vishy Anand who will become the first reigning world chess champion to play a major tournament in London since Anatoly Karpov in 1984.

 

The prize fund has also been increased from €120,000 to €145,000 with 1st prize being worth €50,000.

 

Anand, who will turn 41 during the tournament, recently retained his world title by defeating Veselin Topalov in the latter's home city of Sofia. In London he will meet his immediate predecessor as champion, Vladimir Kramnik, 36, of Russia, and also the world number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway, 19, who is widely tipped to be Anand's next challenger. Spectators will be privileged to witness a clash of the past, present and likely future chess champions.

 

Five more players make up the field of eight, all of whom played last year and earned their place for fighting play. The fourth non-British player is Hikaru Nakamura, ranked 19th in the world. The 23 year old American is known as the 'H-Bomb' for his explosive and totally uncompromising style of play. He has won the US Championship twice and also won major events in San Sebastian and Gibraltar in the past couple of years.

 

England's finest will return and I hope they will be able to challenge the stars as successfully as last year. Michael Adams, 39, from Cornwall, has recently wrested back his position as England number one and was the winner of the 2010 prestigious Gibraltar International. Nigel Short at 45 remains a fearsome opponent and last year delighted the spectators with his post-game commentary. Luke McShane, 26, is back to playing chess full time and last year's tournament gave his return to the game a great boost. David Howell, 20 in November, had a sensational elite tournament debut at the Classic last year when he finished third behind Carlsen and Kramnik and like Adams went through his seven games unbeaten.

 

For further information please call:

Malcolm Pein, Tournament Director, London Chess Classic

T: 020 7388 2404

E: info@chess.co.uk 

 

Plaudits / Letters 2009

 

Dear Sir,

 

Together with 2 friends I was in London from Tuesday to Friday to watch the London Chess Classic, and I would like to thank you for organizing such a fine tournament.

 

We visit the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting for a few days every summer, but I think maybe we will not be doing that so often in the future. The tournament in Dortmund is nice, but I must say that the experience in London was far better. Dortmund has been the same for years, and although this concept has proven itself for many years, I think they should be looking to London to improve. In London we found “new” things like live-commentary (Dortmund has conference-headsets with “low level” commentary) and the possibility to analyze the games in the café area while following them on the flat screens. The city of Dortmund is very nice, actually. Not much “Ruhr-Pott”, but it is obvious that the city of London has so much more to offer.

 

And the best thing of it all. The games. Wow! Carlsen and Kramnik were the obvious highlights, and they certainly delivered. I am sure we have watched a future classic in the first round – that game will be in Carlsen's “Best 50 games”! The other players also delivered – both at the board and in the commentary room. That Luke McShane showed up in the commentary room even after losses amazed me. I had the opportunity to watch (and hear!) Nigel Short in Skanderborg in 2003, and he is still very entertaining, both at the board and in the commentary room. He´s simply the best! All the players played very interesting chess and it was a pleasure to visit the nice venue.

 

If there will be a tournament like this again in 2010 I think I will be there!

 

Best regards

Allan from Denmark

 

Click to read more plaudits and letters from last year's Classic.