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Monday, September 24, 2012

Grand Slam Chess Masters Begins in Sao Paulo with Top Chess Stars

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

Hi everyone,
 

The Grand Slam Chess Masters begins in Sao Paolo today with the first round. The opening ceremony took place in Parque Ibirapuera, Sao Paulo, Brazil on Sunday. There are six players: World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, the number one in the world rankings Magnus Carlsen, the Olympic champion Levon Aronian, the World Rapid Champion Sergey Karjakin, and the US-born Italian prodigy Fabiano Caruana, and the top player of Spain Paco Vallejo.

The chief arbiter IM and IA Herman Claudius van Riemsdijk, Brazilian Champion in 1970, 1973, and 1988, and Pan American Champion in 1977, conducted the draw of colours at the opening ceremony. 

Round 1 pairings
Anand – Vallejo
Aronian – Karjakin
Caruana – Carlsen

Sofia rules are in effect, and scoring system is the Bilbao score (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss).

Highest city authorities were present at the opening ceremony, including the mayor of the city of Sao Paulo Gilberto Kassab. The Municipal Secretary of Education Regina Celia, stressed the importance of teaching chess in public schools and the program that now reaches 53,000 students. Mayor Kassab stressed the importance of holding the Final Masters for the second consecutive year, and expressed the desire this tradition to continue. Keep track of the live games at the official website. All players participated in a simul the day before the opening ceremony. The Grand Slam finalist were met like stars by the multitude of fans. 

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1 Comments:

  • At September 25, 2012 at 5:44 AM , Anonymous alexis cochran, nz said...

    so much happening all over - women's grand prix, men's grand prix, grand slam masters we sure need more seasons like these for chess

     

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