Judit Polgar vs Koneru Humpy vs Hou Yifan in Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2012!

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011


Hello everyone,


Get set to begin 2012 with the tenth anniversary of the Tradewise International Chess Festival in Gibraltar. And, it's billed to be the best yet! The chess festival - spanning 10 days - runs from January 24 to February 2. 
Some super chess is likely with the likes of Judit Polgar, Koneru Humpy, Mickey Adams, Nigel Short and Peter Svidler having all accepted invitations to play.

It might as well be the strongest-ever open chess tournament in the world!
The prize money is upped by 20% to an amazing £150,000. In addition, there is a further prize of £5,000 to celebrate the HM Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee which will be awarded to the top scoring player from a Commonwealth country.



Here is a list of top-30 already registered for the Masters Open.

1 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2755
2 Adams, Michael g ENG 2734
3 M, Shakhriyar g AZE 2733
4 Le, Quang Liem g VIE 2714
5 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2710
6 Vachier-Lagrave, M g FRA 2710
7 Almasi, Zoltan g HUN 2707
8 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2705
9 Laznicka, Viktor g CZE 2703
10 Short, Nigel g ENG 2698
11 Sutovsky, Emil g ISR 2696
12 Sasikiran, Krishnan g IND 2689
13 Onischuk, Alexander g USA 2674
14 Bologan, Victor g MDA 2665
15 Fridman, Daniel g GER 2661
16 Lupulescu, Constantin g ROU 2657
17 Parligras, Mircea-Emilian g ROU 2650
18 Gupta, Abhijeet g IND 2640
19 Erdos, Viktor g HUN 2623
20 Negi, Parimarjan g IND 2617
21 Akobian, Varuzhan g USA 2612
22 Koneru, Humpy g IND 2600
23 David, Alberto g LUX 2597
24 Robson, Ray g USA 2594
25 Kulaots, Kaido g EST 2577
26 Felgaer, Ruben g ARG 2573
27 Jussupow, Artur g GER 2569
28 Yifan, Hou g CHN 2568
29 Korchnoi, Viktor g SUI 2567
30 GN Gopal g IND 2566
Establishing chess as an international festival on the Rock was the dream of organiser Brian Callaghan who, as anyone in the world of chess will tell you, has made the Caleta Hotel the home of chess for those 10 days in the middle of winter. In just nine years, with the help of sponsors, his staff at the hotel, and a top chess organising team, he has assured the growth of chess locally and of the tournament world-wide.


The full break-up of the chess festival events:

• Masters (Open to all): Tues 24 January - Thurs 2 February (10-round Swiss, FIDE rated)
• Challengers A (Under 2250): Mon 23 January - Fri 27 January (5 rounds, FIDE rated) 
• Challengers B (Under 2250): Sat 28 January - Wed 1 February (5 rounds, FIDE rated)
• Amateurs A (Under 1800): Mon 23 January - Fri 27 January (5 rounds, FIDE rated) 
• Amateurs B (Under 1800): Sat 28 January - Wed 1 February (5 rounds, FIDE rated). 
• Play starts every morning at 9am. The Masters start every afternoon at 3pm.

For more information contact: Alice Mascarenhas, Chess Press Officer Email: Chesspo@caleta.gi or gibchesspress@gmail.com Website: www.gibraltarchesscongress.com

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Also see her personal blog at
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