Zurich: "new classic" with Morozevich and Gelfand

5th Zurich Chess Challenge 2016 with a new time control

From 12 to 15 February 2016 world chess elite players will be in Zurich, for the fifth edition of the Zurich Chess Challenge at the Hotel Savoy Baur en Ville. It is organized by the oldest chess club in the world, the Schachgesellschaft Zürich, and sponsored by Oleg Skvortsov, owner of the International Gemological Laboratories in Moscow, a chess enthusiast who is staging an increasing number of chess events in Russia and Switzerland.

Oleg Skvortsov (picture) is promoting and testing a serious innovation for the future of new classical chess: a new time control of 40 minutes per game with additional 10 seconds for each move. He believes that the game needs to become faster and in the future classical chess could pass on to this format of a one-hour control for each player.

The 5th Zurich Chess Challenge 2016 will be held with the new time controls, which allows two rounds to be held per day, at 3 p.m. and at 6 p.m. (on Saturday and Sunday), with the final round taking place on Monday at 3 p.m., followed by a blitz tournament and the closing ceremony at 6 p.m. There are two points for a win and one point for a draw in new classical chess, and one point for a victory and 0.5 points for a draw in the blitz.

New: Match between Alexander Morozevich and Boris Gelfand

In order to further promote the new time control suggested by Oleg Skvortsov, the well-known grandmasters Boris Gelfand (Vice World Champion 2012) and Alexander Morozevich (Runner-up of the SG Zurich Jubilee-Open 2009) will compete in a two-round match on Saturday, February 13th at the Hotel Savoy Baur en Ville. This match will take place simultaneously with the first two rounds of the main event (3 p.m. and 6 p.m.) in the Festsaal.

Participants of the main event

Ratings according the FIDE November 2015 list – Average: 2773 = Category XXI

Schedule

The opening ceremony – a musical and chess feast!

The concert on the first day is by the world renowned cellist Boris Andrianov (the first Russian cellist to become a laureate at the 6th international Rostopovich competition in Paris). Also invited is the Russian classical guitarist Dimitry Illarionov and one of the brightest violinists Alena Baeva.

Boris Illarionov and Dimitry Andrianov playing R. Bellafronte Suite No. 1 for cello and guitar

Alena Baeva plaing a Violin Concerto in D minor, opus 47, by Jean Sibelius

After the concert there will be a blitz tournament which is used to determine the colors distribution of the new classical games. The final blitz tournament on Monday will be with inverted colors of the new classical games. The Closing Ceremony is at 8 p.m. Spectators are welcome, entry free.

Sponsors: Zurich Chess Club (founded 1809, Savoy Chess Corner, "IGC International Gemological Laboratories" (this is a Russian institute providing gemological services, such as diamond grading reports, enhanced diamonds identification as well as certification of diamonds, gemstones and jewelry in the Russian Federation. IGC is the Russsian branch of GCI - a group of gemological laboratories worldwide).

The venue

The tournament takes place in the time-honored Hotel «Savoy Baur en Ville» (Paradeplatz,
Zurich, Switzerland) in the «Festsaal», the venue of many a famous chess event in the past.

The main sponsor, «IGC International Gemological Laboratories», is a Russian institute providing gemological services, such as diamond grading reports, enhanced diamonds identification as well as certification of diamonds, gemstones and jewelry in the Russian Federation. IGC is the Russian branch of GCI, a group of gemological laboratories worldwide.

Co-Sponsors: Savoy Chess Corner, Zurich Chess Club (founded 1809, the oldest existing chess club in the world). Organisation: Schachgesellschaft Zürich (Zurich Chess Club). Contact: media@sgzurich.ch

The Schachgesellschaft Zürich, which was founded in 1809. Its historical development has been retraced by Richard Forster and Christian Rohrer in a series of articles for us:

• The World’s Oldest Chess Club: Part I (1809–1914)
• The World’s Oldest Chess Club: Part II (1914–1945)
• The World’s Oldest Chess Club: Part III (1945–1961)
• The World’s Oldest Chess Club: Part IV (1975 to the present)
• The 2009 Jubilee page of the Zurich Chess Society (+ Jubilee book in PDF)

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.