Vishy Anand opens Prague Chess Festival 2024

by Press release
2/20/2024 – Monday 26 February 2024 is the official opening of the Prague Chess Festival 2024 and the first round will be played on Tuesday 27 February. Both the Masters and the Challengers tournaments have an interesting and strong field and with Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Vincent Keymer the four best junior players in the world will meet in Prague. Guest of honour at the opening ceremony will be Vishy Anand, who will also give a lecture and sign autographs.

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Press release

VISHY ANAND OPENS THE FESTIVAL!

The first days of the festival will welcome the 15th World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand.

The current #1 player of India is going to participate in the opening ceremonies of the Festival over the course of three days and describe his best games and top moments of his fruitful chess career at a lecture dedicated to the young players from the Futures tournament. Additionally, he will host an autograph session for all chess fans.

Wednesday, 28 February, Don Giovanni Hotel Prague:

14:00 - Autograph session, photography
15:00 - Opening of the second round of the Masters Tournament

Vishy Anand is a living chess legend. He became the first Indian GM in 1988 and his chess career has been marked by numerous successes, including victories in the most prestigious tournaments and securing the World Champion title in 2007. His achievements have undoubtedly led directly to an incredible chess boom in India.

Despite turning 55 this year, he remains an active player and is currently ranked 12th in the world. In 2022 he was elected Vice-President of FIDE and has been devoting more and more time to promoting and popularising chess throughout the world.

Vishy Anand made his mark in Prague back in 2002, when the Eurotel Trophy was held on Prague's Střelecký Island. The rapid knockout tournament attracted almost all the top chess players, including Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Judit Polgár, Vladimir Kramnik and Péter Lékó. Ranked 3rd at the time, Vishy breezed through four elimination rounds to win the final against Anatoly Karpov 1.5 - 0.5.

Prague Chess Festival 2024

The Prague Chess Festival comprises a whole series of tournaments, including three invitational round-robin tournaments with a Masters, a Challengers and a Futures tournament. The festival also includes an international open and rating tournaments.

The following players start in the Masters: Vincent Keymer, Vidit Gujrathi, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Gukesh D, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Richard Rapport, Parham Maghsoodloo, David Navara, Mateusz Bartel and Thai Dai Van Ngyuen.

The following players start in the Challengers: Anton Korobov, Erwin l'Ami, Abhimanyu Mishra, Jaime Santos, Maxim Rodshtein, Ediz Gurel, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Richard Stallmach, Vaclav Finek and Stepan Hrebek

Schedule: 1. Round: 27 February, starting 15:00. The following rounds also start daily at 15:00. The last round on 7 March starts 11:00. 3 March is a rest day.

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