A simul with a chess legend

Former World Champion Viswanathan Anand took on 11 players in a simul, celebrating one of chess’ finest traditions

Every big chess event often features additional engagements – from lectures by players to training seminars for arbiters, to – the most bellowed event of all for the public – simuls with famous players.

In Astana, the great Indian and World chess master, former World Champion Viswanathan Anand took on 11 eager contestants in a simul.

This beloved tradition of chess events always gets hearts racing, and the atmosphere was electric as Anand faced his challengers.

While it’s a rare treat to face a living legend over the chess board, one player will have particularly fond memories of the event: Alexander Kozubsky draw with black pieces(!) against one of the strongest chess players in history!

Photo by Anna Shtourman

worldchampionship.fide.com

The FIDE Council has approved today the bid presented by the All India Chess Federation (AICF) to host the 2022 Chess Olympiad in Chennai, the capital of the Tamil Nadu state.

The exact schedule is still being discussed and will be announced in the coming days, but the event will take place between the end of July and the beginning of August, not very far off from the dates originally planned. The venue will be the convention centre at the Four Points by Sheraton, located in the Mahabalipuram area, one of the main touristic destinations in southern India.

Situated in the Bay of Bengal in eastern India, this city of 7 million inhabitants is also home to the legendary World Champion Viswanathan Anand, the first-ever Grandmaster from India. But the chess tradition of Chennai goes even further back, as the first Indian player to ever achieve the International Master title, Manuel Aaron, also grew up in the city. And, of course, Chennai previously hosted the 2013 World Championship, where Magnus Carlsen was first crowned World Champion, defeating Vishy Anand.

The AICF Secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan, who is also a Chairman of the FIDE Technical Commission (TEC), underlined the importance of the experience already gained by him and his team in recent years. «The experience with Delhi Chess Open, the largest event of its kind in the world, will be a big help, as we have already dealt with large numbers. But Olympiad is a big game. I am sure we will make it the best,» he said.

The 44th Olympiad, which was supposed to take place in Moscow and Khanty-Mansiysk, was shifted out of Russia following FIDE’s reaction to the war in Ukraine.

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The Croatia Grand Chess Tour is the 3rd stage on the 2021 Grand Chess Tour, a series of five events with a total prize fund of $1.275 million. Ian Nepomniachtchi is top seed, while 13th World Champion Garry Kasparov will play the blitz after Ivan Saric plays the first three days of rapid chess.

The rapid is a 10-player single round-robin with 3 rounds each day on the first 3 days at a time control of 25 minutes for all moves and a 10-second increment from move 1. The final 2 days are a blitz double round-robin, with 18 rounds of 5+2 blitz. Rapid games count double, with 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw.

Participants

1. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

2. Ian Nepomniachtchi

3. Alexander Grischuk

4. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

5. Anish Giri

6. Garry Kasparov

7. Jorden Van Foreest

8. Viswanathan Anand

9. Ivan Saric

10. Anton Korobov

11. Jan-Krzysztof Duda

Official website: grandchesstour.org

chess24.com

The London Chess Classic, held from December 9th to 18th at the Olympia Conference Centre in Kensington, London, is the fourth and final leg of the Grand Chess Tour. The format is a ten-player round-robin including eight of the current top ten players in the world. The field features Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, Veselin Topalov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and wild card Mickey Adams.
The prize fund is $300,000 (about €280,000) with a first prize of $75,000, plus another $100,000 and $50,000 respectively for the top two in the overall 2016 Grand Chess Tour standings. Players receive 120 minutes to make 40 moves then 60 minutes for the rest of the game with an additional 30 seconds added per move starting from move 41. In the event of a tie for first, tiebreak matches (25 mins + 5 seconds) will be played, beginning 30 minutes after the end of the last classical game.

Official websites: www.londonchessclassic.com | grandchesstour.org

The Champions Showdown takes place in Saint Louis from 10-14 November 2016 featuring Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Veselin Topolov and Viswanathan Anand. Over five days, the players compete in two classical round-robins (60 minutes + 5 seconds delay), two rapid round-robins (15+5) and four blitz round-robins (3+2). There will be NO tiebreak games.
The prize pool is $150,000, with $60,000 for the winner. Official website: uschesschamps.com