Grand Chess Tour rapid and blitz in Belgium

by ChessBase
5/11/2016 – Can you believe it? The world's numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11 and 16 are going to play together in the greatest chess tournament ever staged in Belgium. It's a four-day Rapid Chess and Blitz Chess tournament with a prize fund of $150.000 (€134.100). The dates: Friday 17 June until Monday 20 June. Upfront registration is required – the maximum capacity of the Town Hall cannot be exceeded. Press release.

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World's top ten players battle it out in
four-day tournament in Leuven (Belgium)

Leuven, Belgium – Wednesday, 11 May 2016 – The greatest chess tournament ever staged in Belgium, Your Next Move Grand Chess Tour, will take place in the historic Town Hall of Leuven from Friday 17 June to Monday 20 June.

The best chess players in the world at the moment will take part in the tournament: World Champion Magnus Carlsen, former World Champions Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, as well as Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura, Aronian Levon, Wesley So and Veselin Topalov.

The players will compete in a Rapid Chess and Blitz Chess tournament during the four days. The prize money for the tournament is $150.000 (€134.100).

Your Next Move Grand Chess Tour is part of the the Grand Chess Tour 2016, a series of four chess events organized worldwide (Paris France, Leuven Belgium, Saint Louis USA, and London UK). This tournament being held in Belgium is truly uniqe and is ‘the greatest chess event ever staged in Belgium’. Never before have the ten smartest, fastest and strongest chess players of the moment – coming from Norway, Russia, USA, France, Netherland, Bulgaria, Armenia and India – competed against each other in Belgium.

Chess fans will be able to enjoy the experience of seeing the greatest players compete live in Leuven or watch the streaming broadcast, complete with grandmaster commentary.

Your Next Move, a non-profit organization and the organizer of the event in Leuven, promotes chess as an educational tool for children and youngsters in Belgium. The organization is not new to staging this type of event. Your Next Move has organised tournaments for children where the winners could play against the legendary chess player Garry Kasparov. They also organised the chess blitz match between Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short, the famed English Grand Master and Kasparov’s opponent in their 1993 World Chess Championship duel.

For more information and visitor registration: www.yournextmove.be
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Promotional video of the greatest chess tournament ever staged in Belgium


The players

The ratings and world rankings are taken from the May 2016 FIDE rating list.

Magnus Carlsen (30/11/1990)

Rating: 2851 – World rank: 1

He is a Norwegian chess grandmaster, No. 1 ranked player in the world and reigning World Chess Champion in classical and rapid. His peak rating is 2882, the highest in history. Carlsen was regarded as a chess prodigy as a youngster, and became a Grandmaster in 2004, at the age of 13 years. In 2010, at the age of 19 years, he became the youngest chess player to be ranked FIDE world No. 1. In 2013, Carlsen won the title world chess champion, by defeating Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2013.

Fabiano Caruana (30/7/1992)

Rating: 2804 – World rank: 2

He is an Italian-American chess grandmaster, former chess prodigy, and at various times the No. 2 ranked player in the world. On 15 July 2007 Caruana became a grandmaster (GM) at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United States (his US record was beaten in October 2009 by Ray Robson). In October 2014, he achieved an Elo rating of 2844, becoming the third highest rated player in history.

Vladimir Kramnik (25/6/1975)

Rating: 2801– World rank: 3

He is a Russian chess Grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007. He has won three team gold medals at Chess Olympiads. In October 2000, he defeated Garry Kasparov and became the Classical World Chess Champion. Kramnik defeated reigning FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov in the World Chess Championship 2006. In 2007, Kramnik lost the title to Viswanathan Anand.

Anish Giri (28/6/1994)

Rating: 2790 – World rank: 4

He is a Russian-born Dutch Grandmaster and former chess prodigy. He achieved the grandmaster title at the age of 14 years and 7 months. Giri is a four-time Dutch Chess Champion (2009, 2011, 2012, and 2015) and won the Corus Chess B Group in 2010. He has represented the Netherlands at three Chess Olympiads (Russia, Turkey, Norway).

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (21/10/1990)

Rating: 2788– World rank: 5

Sometimes referred to as MVL, he is a French chess Grandmaster and the 2009 World Junior Chess Champion. He is the No. 1 ranked player in France. Vachier-Lagrave is a three-time French champion (2007, 2011, shared 2012) and four-time winner of the Biel Grandmaster Tournament (2009, 2013, 2014, 2015).


Hikaru Nakamura (9/12/1987)

Rating: 2787 – World rank: 6

He is an American chessgrandmaster. He is a four-time United States Chess Champion, who won the 2011 edition of Tata Steel Group A and represented the United States at five Chess Olympiads, winning two team bronze medals. He has also written a book about bullet chess called Bullet Chess: One Minute to Mate. In October 2015, he reached his peak FIDE rating of 2816, which ranked him second in the world. In May 2014, when FIDE began publishing official rapid and blitz chess ratings, Nakamura ranked number one in the world on both lists.


Levon Aronian (6/10/1982)

Rating: 2784 – World rank: 7

He is an Armenianchess Grandmaster. Aronian won the Chess World Cup 2005. He led the Armenian national team to the Gold medals in three Chess Olympics (Turin, Dresden, Istanbul) and at the World Team Chess Championship in 2011. He won the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010. He was also World Rapid Chess Champion in 2009, and World Blitz Chess Champion in 2010. Aronian has been the leading Armenian chess player since the early 2000’s.


Wesley So (9/10/1993)

Rating: 2775 – World rank: 10

He is a Filipino chess grandmaster representing the United States. A former chess prodigy, So became the youngest player to pass 2600 Elo rating in October 2008, breaking the record previously held by Magnus Carlsen. In February 2015 he entered the World top 10 after tying for second place at the 2015 Tata Steel Chess Tournament. He is a three-time Philippines Chess Champion. In 2015, he won the Bilbao Chess Masters Final.


Viswanathan Anand (11/12/1969)

Rating: 2770 – World rank: 11

He is an Indian chessGrandmaster and the former World Chess Champion. He became India's first grandmaster in 1988. He held the FIDE World Chess Championship from 2000 to 2002. He became the undisputed World Champion in 2007 and defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008. He then defended his title in 2010 against Veselin Topalov and in 2012 against Boris Gelfand. In the World Chess Championship 2013 he lost to challenger Magnus Carlsen and he lost again to Carlsen in the World Chess Championship 2014.


Veselin Topalov (15/3/1975)

Rating: 2754 – World rank: 16

He is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. Topalov became the FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. He lost his title in the World Chess Championship 2006 match against Kramnik. He was ranked number one in the world from April 2006 to January 2007. In the World Chess Championship 2010, he was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand.

Join us

Join us in Leuven and watch the best players in the world compete against each-other in the historic Town Hall of Leuven during the greatest chess tournament ever staged in Belgium. To join us, upfront registration is required. Following security measures, the maximum capacity of the Town Hall cannot be exceeded. Once your registration is done you’ll get a confirmation email. Fill out the registation form.

Watch live

If you can’t make it (what a pity!) you can watch the tournament via our internet livestream. On this page you’ll see the games unfolding as they are played including the comments from top-chess commentators. Stay tuned!


Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the 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 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
 

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