Press release by the Play Magnus Group
The $15,000 Kramnik Challenge is the third event on the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour, following the Polgar Challenge won by Praggnanandhaa and the Gelfand Challenge won by Gukesh. Once again the winner will earn not just $3,000, but a place on the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour.
The 4-day event starts on Thursday, August 12 at 16:00 CEST and runs for four days, with the 16 players competing over 15 rounds of 15'+10" rapid chess, all played on the chess24 Playzone.
The field was reduced from 20 players to 16 after a number of players were unable to compete. A large Indian contingent of Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh and Nihal Sarin is in action in the RTU Open in Riga, while Gunay Mammadzada, Olga Badelka and Nurgyul Salimova are all playing the European Women’s Championship in Iasi, Romania.
The players making their debut on the tour are FMs Yahli Sokolovsky (Israel) and Balaji Daggupati (USA) and France’s Marc’Andria Maurizzi, who made headlines in May when he became the youngest ever French grandmaster, shortly after his 14th birthday.
After the Kramnik Challenge there’s one more regular event on the tour, the Hou Yifan Challenge from September 18-21, before the $40,000 8-player final from October 14-17, which will feature the top-performing individual players.
There are also team standings, with the top-performing team getting the chance to travel to Dubai during the Carlsen-Nepomniachtchi World Championship match in November and December this year. Team Polgar is leading that race.
