
Press release
Anand, Shírov… and a secret character
The tournament enters Facebook with great force
Tradition and routine often outweigh innovation in chess tournaments. One of
the few exceptions is the Magistral Ciudad de León, always avant-garde.
There is a mysterious and unprecedented character in the 24th edition, The
Restless Player, who will appear alongside the world champion, Viswanathan
Anand, and his ingenious opponent, Alexei Shirov, any place or time, beginning
at the opening on Thursday.
The Restless Player is a creation of The Restless Investor, the sole new sponsor
in the 24th edition (all others are an example of faithfulness for many years),
which thus provides an innovative element to the tournament one year before
its silver jubilee, scheduled for 2012. The mysterious character is also a very
incisive and anonymous writer, who has already published juicy stories on el
inversor inquieto.
It looks like Anand started last week journey from his hometown of Chennai
(formerly Madras, in southeast India) with mixed feelings: some disappointment
due to the separation for a few days of his baby, Akhil (this name has different
meanings in Tamil, but Anand prefers “ruler” and “king”)
and his wife, Aruna; and, on the other hand, hope for success for the eighth
time in Leon. To increase his chances for a new victory, he has been working
for a few days at his other home in Collado Mediano (Madrid), together with
his coach, the Danish grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen.
Shirov will arrive in Leon on Wednesday with his wife, Olga, and his coach,
Manuel Perez Candelario. As happens to most top players, his score with the
World Champion is very unfavorable for him since Anand defeated him in the World
Championship 2000 final in Tehran (Iran). But he has now have an appropriate
opportunity to retaliate, as Shirov seems to be in very good shape after winning
in Lublin (Poland) with plenty of creativity in his games.
The drawing of lots will be on Thursday, 8 p.m, at the Hotel Conde Luna, with
both players and the international arbiter Joaquin Espejo. The games (two each
day) will be played on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the excellent Auditorium,
equipped with giant screens and handsets, so that spectators can see the moves
and close-ups of the players, and listen to the commentators: Miguel Illescas,
eight times Spanish champion and international master Michael Rahal. Following
the success of previous editions, Castilla y León television will provide
extensive coverage, including live connections. Each player will have 45 minutes
per game plus 30 seconds increment after each move.

The tournament director, Marcelino Sion, is excited by the success on Facebook,
with over a thousand followers in the first 24 hours. As usual, the organizers
will take great care on the parallel activities: simuls by Shirov, a lecture
by Illescas on the Kasparov-Deep Blue historic match, another lecture class
for the local young talents by the IM Sergio Estremera, a chess cinema week
and the traditional Young Talents tournament. Despite the big economic crisis,
everything will be sponsored by a balanced combination of public bodies and
private companies, which have been loyal to the tournament for many years.
Leontxo García, Press Officer
Rules
The Anand-Shirov match will be played under the FIDE Active Chess rules. It
will be a six games match. Two games will be played each day. Each player will
have 45 minutes per game + 30 seconds increment after each move. All six games
will be played, even if the match winner has been already decided. If the result
after six games is 3-3, a five minute games tiebreak match of two games will
be played immediately after the sixth normal game. If there is still a tie,
the Armageddon system will be played: five minutes for White, four minutes for
Black, and Black will be considered the winner if there is a draw.

Press chief Leontxo Garcia, Vishy Anand, Alexei Shirov and arbiter Joaquín
Espejo

Vishy Anand, Joaquín Espejo, Alexei Shirov after the drawing of colours
The colours for the first game were decided by a drawing of lots by the Chief
Arbiter, Joaquin Espejo on June 2rd (Thursday) at the Conde Luna Hotel. Alexei
Shirov has white in the first game.
Schedule
Thursday, June 2nd |
Arrival, drawing of lost in Conde Luna Hotel |
Friday, June 3rd |
Games 1 and 2 (16:30), León auditorium |
Saturday, June 4th |
Games 3 and 4 (16:30), León auditorium |
Sunday, June 5th |
Games 5 and 6 (16:30), + Tiebreaks |
Monday, June 6th |
Closing ceremony, Prizegiving (14:30)
Simuls (17:30), León University |
Previous winners
Links
The games are being 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
11 or any of our Fritz
compatible chess programs.
Copyright
ChessBase