Zurich Chess Open Begins with Alexei Shirov as Top Seed

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

 

The 36th Zurich Weihnachtsopen is taking place from 26th to 30th December at the Crowne Plaza Zürich in Zurich, Switzerland, according to a Chessdom report. The Master Tournament (for players rated over 2000) and General Tournament (U2050) will each be played over 7 rounds of Swiss system.

Top rated players: Shirov Alexei 2708 LAT, Grachev Boris 2688 RUS, Istratescu Andrei 2654 FRA, Melkumyan Hrant 2649 ARM, Kurnosov Igor 2645 RUS, Turov Maxim 2630 RUS, Bartel Mateusz 2629 POL, Bauer Christian2627 FRA, Baramidze David 2615 GER, Pelletier Yannick 2604 SUI, Vajda Levente 2603 ROU, Prohaszka Peter 2573 HUN, Ghaem Maghami Ehsan 2572 IRI, Fier Alexandr 2567 BRA, Sanikidze Tornike 2567 GEO, Stojanovic Mihajlo 2566 SRB, Bogner Sebastian 2562 GER, Anton Guijarro David 2558 ESP, Bindrich Falko 2545 GER,Sebenik Matej 2543 SLO etc. Lots of surprises are expected, for example in the first round Swiss André Meylan holding to a draw GM Milos Pavlovic. All results are on the tournament's official site.

Prizes in Master Tournament: CHF 5000, 4000, 3000, 2000, 1500, 1000, etc. (20 prizes)

Special prizes CHF 200 each: for best woman, best senior over 60, best U20, U16 and best U2200 Elo.

Prizes in General Tournament: CHF 1000, 800, 600, 500, 400, 300, etc. (20 prizes)
Special prizes CHF 200: for best woman, best senior over 60, best U20, U16, best U1800 Elo and best U1600 Elo.

Total prize money of both tournaments is exceeding CHF 30,000.

Meanwhile, the Hilton Basel Chess Festival is scheduled for 1-5th January, 2013, in Basel, Switzerland.

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