World champions, elite GMs and young stars

The WR Chess Masters Cup 2024, organised by entrepreneur and chess enthusiast Wadim Rosenstein, is set to take place from 14-17 October at the prestigious Langham Hotel in London. This knockout tournament will feature 16 players, including chess legends, active elite grandmasters and rising stars.

After putting forth a single round-robin in 2023, won by Levon Aronian, the WR Group has decided to switch to a knockout format this year. The new format is intended to create a more thrilling spectacle, compressing the action into four days, rather than the ten days of last year's tournament.

Master Class Vol. 12: Viswanathan Anand

This DVD allows you to learn from the example of one of the best players in the history of chess and from the explanations of the authors how to successfully organise your games strategically, and how to keep your opponent permanently under pressure.

Each match will consist of two classical games with a demanding time control: 60 minutes for the first 30 moves, 30 minutes for the next 20 and a final 30 minutes for the remainder of the game, with no increments. If the score is tied after two games, the match will be decided by an Armageddon tiebreaker. In this format, players bid for the black pieces by offering to play with less time, while a base of 15 minutes is granted to the opponent playing with white. Black has draw odds, meaning a draw secures a win.

A diverse field, combining living legends, elite grandmasters and promising young talents, will compete for a share of the €58,000 prize fund. Veteran players like Vishy Anand (aged 54) and Veselin Topalov (aged 49) will take on emerging stars such as Arjun Erigaisi, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Alireza Firouzja, who are the top seeds and are now competing in the Global Chess League. The tournament includes two women players: former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk and 9-year-old English prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan. Shreyas Royal, the youngest-ever British grandmaster at age 15, will also participate.

Bodhana Sivanandan representing England at the 2024 Chess Olympiad in Budapest | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

The lineup also features top players from the last decade, including Ian Nepomniachtchi, a two-time World Championship challenger, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, a former world blitz champion and Jan-Krzysztof Duda, the 2021 World Cup winner. Adding further depth to the field are two members of the Indian team that recently won the Olympiad in Budapest, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Vidit Gujrathi, both of whom are also competing at the highest level internationally.

First-round pairings have already been revealed. Two particularly enticing matchups will see Vishy Anand facing his compatriot Vidit Gujrathi and Veselin Topalov taking on Praggnanandhaa. Games will begin at 10.00 London time (11.00 CEST, 5.00 ET, 14.30 IST).

Master advanced Tactics and Calculations like a super Grandmaster

The Indian chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi with an ELO of over 2700 (June 2023) is one of the best 20 players in the world. For the first time, the sympathetic top player presents himself in a video course. Let a world-class player show you tactical moti

Links

• Official website
• All ChessBase reports on the 2023 WR Chess Masters
• Creating a super tournament from scratch: Interview with Wadim Rosenstein