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From 2nd to 12th July 2009 the attention of the whole chess world is drawn to Dortmund. Six of the world's strongest grandmasters take part in the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting – the 37th edition – and go all out to win this prestigious tournament. The fans of the most traditional chess tournament in Germany expect nothing but the best. Four top ten players of the current world ranking list are the favourites.
First of all one should name Vladimir Kramnik, who has won this tournament eight times. Dortmund 2009 is his first big tournament after his defeat by Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2008 in Bonn. It could mark a starting point for a new attempt to fight for the crown.
Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik
Peter Leko starts as a titleholder in Dortmund. The Hungarian has been amongst the ten best players in the world for many years and is undoubtedly one of the favourites of this event.
Former World Championship challenger Peter Leko (with his wife Sofi)
Magnus Carlsen enters the race with the highest rating: 2770. The Norwegian has developed from a prodigy to one of the best players of the world, and is currently the third in the world ranking list. He will surely want to improve on hisfirst performance in Dortmund, where he finished sixth.
One of the most exciting figures in chess today: 18-year-old Magnus Carlsen
Dmitry Jakovenko celebrates his debut in Dortmund. This 25-year-old chess player earned the invitation with his fantastic performance in the recent years, which catapulted him to the seventh place in the world rankings. Jakovenko is the biggest hope in the Russian chess.
Debut in Dortmund: Russian GM Dmitry Jakovenko
By winning Aeroflot Open Etienne Bacrot qualified for this year's edition. It is his second appearance in Dortmund, after 2005. The former junior World Champion is known for his great talent and still is one of the candidates for the highest chess crown.
Top French GM and world-class player Etienne Bacrot
The German colours are represented by Arkadij Naiditsch. The number one in the German ranking list made history in 2005: he was the first German and at the same time the youngest player ever to win this tournament. Currently he has crossed the magic line of 2700 Elo and therefore belongs to the elite of the chess world.
Top German GM Arkadij Naiditsch, who won
Dortmund in 2005
| Player | Age |
Nat. |
Elo |
Rank |
| Magnus Carlsen | 18 |
NOR |
2770 |
3 |
| Vladimir Kramnik | 33 |
RUS |
2759 |
4 |
| Dimitri Jakovenko | 25 |
RUS |
2753 |
7 |
| Peter Leko | 29 |
HUN |
2751 |
9 |
| Etienne Bacrot | 26 |
FRA |
2728 |
17 |
| Arkadij Naiditsch | 23 |
GER |
2700 |
31 |
Average rating: 2744 (Category 20) – average age: 25.7 years
The playing format: each player has to play two games against every opponent, one with the white and one with the black pieces. The winner of this tournament will be determined after ten rounds.
Parallel to the main event the Sparkassen-Open tournament with an A and B Group will take place in the town hall. This year many grandmasters and International Masters are expected to participate. The invitation to the Open Tournaments can be found here. For registration and queries please send email to info@sparkassen-chess-meeting.de.
Tickets / Advance Bookings
Day ticket: 6 Euros (concessions: 4 Euros) – Season Ticket: 25 Euros
Advance Bookings: Kulturinfoshop im Karstadthaus, Kampstr., D-44137 Dortmund.
Tel.: +49-231-5027710 – Fax: +49-231-5027740 – Internet: www.dortmund.de/kis
All games will be broadcast by the official web site's "Live Games" page and on the Playchess.com server, most likely with live audio commentary by a top GM. We are also planning live coverage on the ChessBase news page, using our Flash client. As in the previous year the games of the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting will be broadcasted on the Internet with a delay of 15 minutes – which means that the moves stay in the playing hall for that period, before they are transmitted to the rest of the world). This is an important anti-cheating measure that has been proposed to FIDE since October 2005 and has the support of most of the top players. We commend the Dortmund organisers for taking the initiative.
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