Dresden, Miskolc, Yerevan, Sofia, Elista, Dortmund

Calendar overview

Eighth Individual European Championships (EURO 2007)

The EURO 2007 Championships will be held in Dresden from April 3 (first round) until April 15 (tiebreaks, closing ceremony) 2007. The venue is the International Congress Center, Ostra Ufer 2, 01067 Dresden, Germany. The tournament is an 11 rounds Swiss with a playing time of 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one.

The "Theaterplatz" in the center of Dresden [Photo: Christoph Münch]

The European Championships are open to all players representing the Chess Federations which comprise the European Chess Union (FIDE zones 1.1 to 1.9) regardless of their title or rating. The total prize fund is 200,000 Euros. In addition FIDE will contribute to the prize fund with an amount of US $80,000 (60,000 for the open section and 20,000 for the women’s section).

Participation in the EURO 2007 is expected to break all records. We will start reporting on the event this weekend, with extensive live coverage on Playchess.com.

• Official web site

Miskolc, Kramnik vs Leko

Press announcement

We cannot underestimate the excitement generated by this eight-game duel between two leading players in the world of chess, Péter Lékó and the world champion, Vladimir Kramnik. It will take place in the National Theater of Miskolc, Hungary, as the most prestigious event of the year 2007. The arbiter is grandmaster Zsuzsa Veroczi, Head of Communication of the Hungarian Chess Federation.

In 2005 Péter Lékó played the first such rapid match in Miskolc, against Michael Adams of England. Lékó started with three consecutive losses, but he managed to equalize and the two grandmasters finished with a tied score of 4-4.

Last year Lékó’s opponent was the twelfth world champion Anatoli Karpov who, during his carrier is said to have won 166 tournaments, setting a record that is not likely to be broken. The two battled it out in the new shrine of chess, the beautiful National Theater of Miskolc, and the excitement of their games exemplified perfectly why chess fans are so fond of rapid chess. Lékó took the lead by winning the third game and was able to preserve his advantage till the end, gaining a victory of 4.5-3.5.

Now the series will be continued with Peter Lékó taking on the man who wrested the world championship title from Garry Kasparov in 2000. Kramnik defended his title against Lékó in Brissago, Switzerland, in 2004. Last Autumn he won the reunification world championship final against Bulgarian Veselin Topalov by 8.5-7.5 in the tie-break.

We may consider their duel of eight games in Miskolc as the return match for Brissago, although the two grandmasters are going to play rapid games. Kramnik and Lékó first played against each other in the super tournament in Dortmund 1995. Since then they have played another 73 games. Apart from 57 draws Kramnik has the lead by 10-7. At classical time controls the score is 4-4, with 36 draws. Kramnik is one of the best players in the world in rapid chess. At this speed he leads Lékó 6-3, with 21 draws.

Schedule

Home page of the event (currently only Hungarian)

Yerevan gets ready for the
Aronian-Kramnik match

Yerevan is getting ready for a six-game rapid chess match between top Armenian GM Levon Aronian, winner of the 2006 World Cup, and world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik. The event will take place from May 4-6. The two will compete for the Prize of Armenian Chess Federation.

The Match Organizing Committee is headed by the President of Armenian Chess Federation, Minister of Defense of Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsian. The match will be held in the Opera House, one of the most prestigious halls in Yerevan. The Match Chief Arbiter will be IA Ashot Vardapetian.

The games may be followed online at the official website of Armenian Chess Federation.

Schedule

• Official web site
• M-Tel Masters 2006
• M-Tel Masters 2005

FIDE Candidates Tournament 2007 in Elista

A total of 16 players meet to play a series of matches and fill four places in the 2007 World Championship in Mexico City. The entire qualification will take place in Elista, Kalmykia. The prize fund is US $40,000 per match, most of the money coming from a personal fund of FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The initial pairings are:

Announcement of the Candidates Matches

Dortmund Sparkassen
Chess Meeting 2007

The Chess Meeting starts on June 23 in the State Theatre in Dortmund, Germany. Eight grandmasters are participating in this prestigious round robin event, which will achieve a category of 19 or 20. Five of the eight participants are in the top ten in the world. This includes world champion Vladimir Kramnik, who will defend his victory in last year's Chess Meeting. Also in the field is the world's number two (from April number one) ranking player Vishy Anand, who won the event in 2004.

The other participants are world number four ranking grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, 21, of Azerbaijan; Peter Leko of Hungary, ranked number six in the world; GM Boris Gelfand of Israel, number ten in the world. In addition we have German Champion Arkadij Naiditsch, who won the event in 2005 at the age of 19; Magnus Carlsen, the 16-year-old prodigy from Norway; and the winner of the Aeroflot Open Evgeny Alekseev.

• Official home page (still only German)
• Dortmund 2006
• Dortmund 2005
• Dortmund 2004
• Dortmund 2003