Zurich: Simul Exhibition

The «Zurich Chess Challenge 2014» will be the first encounter between the newly crowned World Champion, Norway’s Magnus Carlsen, and the former title holder, India’s Viswanathan Anand after their recent match in Chennai. From Wednesday, 29 January to Tuesday, 4 February 2014, they will compete in the 3rd Zurich Chess Challenge along with four other great chess stars: Levon Aronian (Armenia), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Fabiano Caruana (Italy) and Boris Gelfand (Israel).

Hou Yifan Simultaneous Exhibition

On February 1st the reigning Women's World Champion Hou Yifan gave a clock simul to six talented Swiss junior players as part of the festivities of Zurich 2014.

The simul was especially taxing as it was a clock simul and Hou Yifan was not playing White in every board, as is sometimes common in simultaneous exhibitions. Her opposition ranged from 2091 (lowest rated) up to 2319, which is a fair opponent already in a normal game!

The simul took place in the "Zunfthaus zur Saffran" on the banks of the Limmat River

Originally a merchant house for textiles and spices, it today provides festive halls for social function.

Playing black in a simul is not easy at all -
especially when your opponent is nearly 2200!

Against Pomini Aurelien, 2181 - one of the two draws of the simul

The toughest game was against Lars Rindlisbacher, 2319:

Yifan had a serious time advantage in all games

One of the spectators on the wall of the Zunfthaus

Despite the difficulty level of the event she was able to pull through and win four games and draw two, not a bad score at all.

Replay simul games

Select games from the dropdown menu above the board

Cristian Chirila - Guest Commentator Former World u-16 Champion and currently a grandmaster finishing his studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, Cristian is an ambitious chess player. Find out more about Cristian, including his chess lesson services, biography and games here.

Maria Emelianova - Photographer Maria Emelianova is 26 years old, born in Ekaterinburg, Russia, Women FIDE Master, with a 2113 Elo rating. After finishing school Maria moved to Moscow to study at the university, so chess was forgotten for some time. She worked for about a year with Alexander Roshal in the chess magazine "64". Her carrier as a chess photographer started at the Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk. "It was just a hobby, but somehow became an interesting job," says Maria, who works with a Canon 1DX. "Now I am finishing my studies at two universities in Moscow, and am looking forward to a future in the big world of chess."

Schedule and Pairings

The event is a six player round robin, with a rate of play of 40 moves in 120 minutes, then 20 moves in 60 minutes and the rest of game in 15 minutes, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting after move 61. Special rule: in case of a draw before move 40, an additional rapid game will be played (which does not count for the overall result).

• The blitz will be used to determine the colors
• The classical time control gives two points to wins, one for draws and none for losses
• The rapid time control gives one point to wins, half to draws and none for losses

The winner will be the one who scores the most points between the classical tournament and the rapid.

Schedule of Commentary

Schedule and results

Rapid Schedule

Links Official tournament site All Games in PGN The games will be 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.