Chess Classic 2004: A change of pace

by ChessBase
8/5/2004 – Unlike Dortmund, the Mainz Chess Classic, which begins today, propagates faster and unusual forms of chess. There are Rapid and Fischer Random matches between world-class GMs, and Opens for Rapid and Random games. And lots more, as you can find out in our Chess Classic Guide...

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Mainz Chess Classic 2004

Rheingoldhalle Mainz
August 4 – 8, 2004

The Chess Classic has become a yearly event, staged for over a decade now, and escalating in strength and imaginative organisation. That, by the way, is in the hands of Hans-Walter Schmitt, the spiritus rector since the inception.

This year the Chess Classic pits world number two Vishy Anand in a rapid chess match over eight games against Alexei Shirov, number ten in the current FIDE list; a Chess960 (Fischer Random) match between GMs Peter Svidler and Levon Aronian, two opens for Rapid Chess and Chess960, with a registered total of 74 GMs or WGMs, plus simultaneous exhibitions, blitz and other interesting activities.

  • Live coverage of the Rapid and Chess960 events is available on the Chess Classic home page (click "Live transmission" on the left) or for visitors of Playchess.com, where the organisers have kindly arranged a live relay.

Chess Classic 2004 event schedule

  • The Duel of the World Champions
    Viswanathan Anand, India, FIDE world champion 2000-2002, Elo 2764, vs Alexei Shirov, Spain, FIDE world championship runner-up 2000/2002, Elo 2713. Format: eight Rapid Chess games (25 min/game + 10 sec/move increment). Schedule: two rounds a day from Thursday, August 5th to Sunday, August 8th, with the rounds starting at 6:30 und 8:00 p.m.

  • Gerling Match Chess960 World Championship
    Shuffle chess match between Peter Svidler, Russia, winner of the 2003 Chess960 event in Mainz, Elo 2727, vs Levon Aronian, Germany, winner of the 2nd Chess960 Open in 2003, Elo 2671. Format: eight Chess960 games (25 min/game + 10 sec/move increment). Schedule: two rounds a day from Thursday, August 5th to Sunday, August 8th, with the rounds starting at 6:30 und 8:00 p.m. The starting positions will be revealed about five minutes prior to the start of the games. Links: Description of Chess960 (Fischer Random Chess); Rules of Chess960 (Fischer Random Chess)

  • FiNet Open – Third Chess960 Open
    Rapid Chess960 Open, staged in the same hall as the GM matches. Format: ten rounds, 20 min/game + 5 sec/move increment. Schedule: Thursday, 5th August, 12:15 p.m.: Rounds 1-5; Friday, 6th August, 10:00 a.m.: Round 6-11. Prize-giving ceremony 5:30 p.m. Registered participants.

  • 11th ORDIX Open
    Rapid Chess Open, staged in the same hall as the GM matches. Format: eleven rounds, 25 minutes per game. Schedule: Saturday, 7th August, 12:15 p.m.: Round 1-5; Sunday, 8th August, 10:00 a.m.:
    Round 6-11. Prize-giving ceremony 5:30 p.m. Registered participants.

  • Chess960 Man vs. Machine Match
    This match was staged on Wednesday, August 4th. It saw GM Levon Aronian take on the Dutch program The Baron by Richard Pijl in the Fischer Random variant of chess. Both games were drawn, with Aronian making what the organisers' home page describes as "an hilarious mistake" – he forgot the exact castling rules for the queenside and had to be corrected by the computer program. The final score was 1:1.

  • Simultaneous exhibitions
    These were also staged on Wednesday, August 4th. Alexei Shirov played 40 boards of regular chess, Peter Svidler 20 boards of Chess960 with different initial positions on each board. He lost one game and drew four.

  • Press conference
    Two press conferences were held to start off the Chess Classic Mainz. Vishy Anand, his challenger Alexei Shirov, WNCA Chess 960 world champion Peter Svidler and the winner of last year's Chess960 Open, Levon Aronian joined organiser Hans-Walter Schmitt and the mayor of Mainz Jens Beutel. Schmitt proudly announced that the Chess960 Open has attracted more players than last year. 32 players of the top-100 will play in Mainz, among them superstars like Ruslan Ponomariov and Alexander Morozevich. In the second press conference supermodel Carmen Kass, who happens to be the president of the Estonian Chess Federation, and women world chess champion Antoaneta Stefanova from Bulgaria attracted many photographers and TV stations from all over the world. Kass and her federation want to bring the Chess Olympiad 2008 to Estonia. This presentation was not very much appreciated by the German delegation from Dresden. The Germans also want to organise this major chess event. Schmitt ended the press conference with his petition to get Bobby Fischer out of his Japanese prison.

  • Accommodation, tickets
    The official hotel for the players is the Hilton Mainz, which is offering a limited number of rooms for special rates: from € 49.50 per person (double room, breakfast) to € 85.00 (single room, breakfast) during the Chess Classic. Tel +49-6131-2450. Tickets are €6.00 for adults and €4.00 reduced.

Schedule (overview)

Registered participants of the Chess960 and Ordix Opens

  Elo Surname First name Title Nat.
Ch960
Ordix
1 2743 Morozevich Alexander GM RUS
yes
yes
2 2722 Ponomariow Ruslan GM UKR
yes
3 2712 Bacrot Etienne GM FRA
yes
yes
4 2705 Grischuk Alexander GM RUS
yes
yes
5 2686 Rublevsky Sergei GM RUS
yes
yes
6 2683 Milov Vadim GM CHE
yes
yes
7 2666 Aleksandrov Aleksej GM BLR
yes
yes
8 2666 Sasikiran Krishnan GM IND
yes
9 2663 Bologan Victor GM MOL
yes
yes
10 2661 Graf Alexander GM GER
yes
yes
11 2652 Nielsen Peter Heine  GM DNK
yes
yes
12 2644 Almasi Zoltan GM HUN
yes
yes
13 2644 Zvjaginsev Vadim GM RUS
yes
yes
14 2643 McShane Luke GM GBR
yes
yes
15 2642 Vaganian Rafael GM ARM
yes
yes
16 2638 Volokitin Andrei GM UKR
yes
yes
17 2635 Epishin Vladimir GM RUS
yes
yes
18 2628 Sadvakasov Darmen GM RUS
yes
yes
19 2628 Tregubov Pavel GM RUS
yes
yes
20 2626 Georgiev Kiril GM MKD
yes
yes
21 2624 Dautov Rustem GM GER
yes
yes
22 2618 Gyimesi Zoltan GM HUN
yes
yes
23 2618 Kobalia Mikhail GM RUS
yes
yes
24 2615 Baklan Vladimir GM GER
yes
yes
25 2615 Tkachiev Vladislav GM FRA
yes
26 2611 Gustafsson Jan GM GER
yes
yes
27 2608 Ehlvest Jaan GM EST
yes
yes
28 2606 Alekseev Evgeny GM RUS
yes
29 2601 Agrest Evgenij GM SWE
yes
yes
30 2597 Pelletier Yannick GM CHE
yes
yes
31 2596 Khenkin Igor GM GER
yes
32 2593 Rustemov Alexander GM RUS
yes
yes
33 2592 Varga Zoltan GM HUN
yes
yes
34 2586 van den Doel Eric GM NLD
yes
yes
35 2585 Karjakin Sergey GM UKR
yes
yes
36 2583 Jussupow Artur GM GER
yes
yes
37 2580 Andersson Ulf GM SWE
yes
38 2574 Chuchelov Vladimir GM BEL
yes
39 2574 Naiditsch Arkadij GM GER
yes
yes
40 2571 Glek Igor GM RUS
yes
yes
41 2570 Shchekachev  Andrei GM RUS
yes
yes
42 2559 Kogan Artur GM ISR
yes
yes
43 2557 Stocek Jiri GM CZE
yes
44 2554 Bischoff Klaus GM GER
yes
yes
45 2551 Greenfeld Alon GM Israel
yes
yes
46 2550 Landa Konstantin GM GER
yes
yes
47 2543 Portisch Lajos GM HUN
yes
yes
48 2541 Kritz Leonid GM GER
yes
yes
49 2539 Berelovich Alexander GM UKR
yes
yes
50 2535 Lalic Bogdan GM GBR
yes
yes
51 2535 Sax Gyula GM HUN
yes
yes
52 2534 Potkin Vladimir GM RUS
yes
yes
53 2527 Döttling Fabian GM GER
yes
54 2527 Stefanova Antoaneta WGM BUL
yes
yes
55 2525 Oratovsky Michael GM ISR
yes
yes
56 2525 Teske Henrik GM GER
yes
yes
57 2524 Hort Vlastimil GM GER
yes
58 2517 Ubilava Elizbar GM GEO
yes
yes
59 2508 Groszpeter Attila GM HUN
yes
yes
60 2507 Farago Ivan GM HUN
yes
yes
61 2502 Levin Felix GM GER
yes
yes
62 2498 Pavlovic Milos GM YUG
yes
63 2494 Pinter Jozsef GM HUN
yes
yes
64 2493 Lobron Eric GM GER
yes
yes
65 2481 Czebe Attila GM HUN
yes
yes
66 2475 Zhukova Natalia WGM UKR
yes
yes
67 2466 Vogt Lothar GM GER
yes
yes
68 2464 Gaponenko Inna WGM LVA
yes
yes
69 2448 Cmilyte Victorija WGM LTU
yes
yes
70 2444 Uhlmann Wolfgang GM GER
yes
yes
71 2396 Pähtz Elisabeth WGM GER
yes
yes
72 2344 Kiseleva Natalia WGM UKR
yes
yes
73 2330 Hagarova Zusana WGM SVK
yes
74 2302 Berend Elvira WGM LUX
yes

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