2014 London Chess Classic (London, England)
Now that the Qatar Masters Open has the crown of the strongest open in history, the London Chess Classic is trying to reclaim the strongest tournament from the Sinquefield Cup. Two years ago, the London Chess Classic boasted four 2800-rated players, but last year was even stronger with Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian headlining the six-player field. Neither will be at this event, but Fabiano Caruana will join returnees Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik will challenge defending champion Hikaru Nakamura (pictured below). Anish Giri and Mickey Adams close out the list of the strong field.
Chess in Schools and Communities (CSC) has announced the 6th London Chess Classic which will be hosted from December 6th-14th at the Olympia Conference Centre in Kensington, London. The initial event is the Super Rapidplay Open on 6-7th December with the prize fund of £25,000 (US$38,920). There is a new format as IM Malcolm Pein continues to innovate to reach a critical mass. The Super Rapidplay is a 10-round FIDE rated open with all players playing in the same section and competing for section prizes. The six GMs competing in the London Classic will participate in the single round-robin rapid format at 25m+10s and the blitz event in 4m+2s increment. The classical event is 40/2 with 15m+30s increment. The “Sofia Rules” will be enforced such that no draws will occur in the first 40 moves. The tournament will adopt the football scoring of three points for a win and one point for a draw.
December 6-14, 2014 (London, England) |
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#
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Name
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Title
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Federation
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Flag
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Rating
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| 1 | Caruana, Fabiano | GM | Italy |
 |
2829 | ||
| 2 | Anand, Viswanathan | GM | India |
 |
2793 | ||
| 3 | Nakamura, Hikaru | GM | USA |
 |
2775 | ||
| 4 | Kramnik, Vladimir | GM | Russia |
 |
2769 | ||
| 5 | Giri, Anish | GM | Netherlands |
 |
2768 | ||
| 6 | Adams, Michael | GM | England |
 |
2745 | ||