The Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament has been held since 1993 as a classical round-robin event, initially with ten participants. In some years the tournament was contested with six players, and in 2000 it was even held once with four participants (in that case as a double round-robin). Most recently, six players have been the norm. The initiator and original sponsor of the tournament was the law firm of Johan Sigeman. In 2017, the Swedish company TePe joined as a sponsor. TePe produces dental hygiene products. The tournament is organised in Malmö by the Limhamns SK chess club, which usually assembles a fairly mixed field, featuring world-class players, young talents, seasoned veterans and top female players.

In the past two years, the tournament victory went to the young Uzbeks Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sindarov. In 2023, the experienced Peter Svidler won.

Magnus Carlsen’s only previous appearance dates back to 2004. At the age of 14, he finished in third place. The winner of the tournament in 2004 was Peter Heine Nielsen, who later became Carlsen’s trainer and second.

Carlsen had recently appeared somewhat bored with classical chess. The world number one relinquished his world championship title without playing and on various occasions expressed the view that chess with classical time controls is something of an antiquated affair, as the very top players have reached such a high and evenly matched level that many games tend to be dull. By contrast, Carlsen has been happy to take part in online tournaments featuring different formats. In search of new challenges, he founded the Freestyle Chess Organisation together with a Hamburg-based entrepreneur, staging tournaments in Chess960. The project was recently upgraded, in cooperation with FIDE, to a Freestyle World Championship.

Carlsen’s participation in the TePe Sigeman & Co Tournament therefore comes as something of a surprise. However, Carlsen had also been in talks with the organisers of Tata Steel Chess and would likely have played there this year had his son not been born and family responsibilities taken priority.

The remaining participants in Malmö have yet to be announced.

Tournament page Sigeman & Co...