Who is watching Gata Kamsky the closest at US Chess Championships?

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

Hi everybody,

Can you tell us who must be watching Grandmaster Gata Kamsky most closely at the ongoing US Chess Championship Final 2011? If you said GM Veselin Topalov then you're absolutely correct! 

Kazan National Library

In one week's time - May 3-27 - the FIDE Candidates matches will begin in Kazan, Russia. It is Veselin Topalov vs Gata Kamsky, Vladimir Kramnik vs Teimour Radjabov, Levon Aronian vs Alexander Grischuk and Boris Gelfand vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. One of them would qualify for a match with reigning World Chess Champion Vishy Anand for the title match.

The matches, with the above pairings, will be played over four games. Two days after these matches end, the second round starts, with the winner of Topalov-Kamsky against the winner of Gelfand-Mamedyarov and the winner of Kramnik-Radjabov against the winner of Aronian-Grischuk. These matches will also consist of four games. The final match will consist of six games. That means we have quarterfinals and semifinals as best of four games with the final as the best of six games.

Veselin Topalov qualified as the runner up of the previous World Championship. Vladimir Kramnik qualified by rating. Levon Aronian was the winner of the FIDE Grand-Prix 2008-2009 and Boris Gelfand was the winner of the FIDE World Cup 2009. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was kept as the wild card, originally picked by organizers in Baku, Azerbaijan, before the event was moved to Kazan. Teimour Radjabov came second in the FIDE Grand-Prix and Alexander Grischuk also qualified from this GP. The Russian replaces Magnus Carlsen who decided not to play early November, 2010. Gata Kamsky is in as the runner up of the Challengers Match 2009.

Time control
The time control will be 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds increment per move, starting from move 61. Tiebreaks will consist of four games of 25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment, two blitz games (five minutes plus three seconds) and one sudden death game (five against 4, with 3 seconds increment from move 61, and draw odds for Black).

Prizes
The four losers of the first round matches will each receive a (minimum) amount of 30,000 euros. The two losers of the second round matches will each receive a (minimum) amount of 60,000 euros. The minimum prize fund for the final match of the 3rd round is 180,000 euros which will be divided 50%-50% between the two players (90,000 euros each).

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World chess body releases pairings for Candidates Matches

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

Hi everyone,


FIDE has released the pairing for the Candidates Matches to be held in Kazan, Russia, from May 3rd to 27th. The matches will be four games and six games long, with as many as 15 possible rapid and blitz tiebreak games to decide the winner in the event of a draw. There are two days rest between matches. 


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First bracket

Topalov (BUL) - Kamsky (USA)

Gelfand (ISR) - Mamedyarov (AZE)

Second Bracket

Kramnik (RUS) - Radjabov (AZE)

Aronian (ARM) - Grischuk (RUS)
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The drawing of colours for all the rounds will be conducted during the opening ceremony of the event. The winner of the Candidates Matches 2011 will qualify to challenge the World Champion GM Vishy Anand in a 12-game match during the first half of 2012.


www.chessbase.com writes:


The pairings are organized in such a way that Kramnik and Topalov could only meet in the finals in the third match, however, one wonders what will happen in the event that Topalov does qualify to meet either Kramnik or Grischuk, considering that the Bulgarian's manager previously declared that Vesselin would not play against a Russian on Russian soil.


You can read the news website's most comprehensive report here.


From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com

All players confirm Chess Candidates Matches 2011 participation, Carlsen substituted by Grischuk

Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010

Hello Everyone,

All players have confirmed their participation for the Candidates Matches 2011. Magnus Carlsen has been substituted by Alexander Grischuk as the former has announced that he would not like to play in the cycle. This event would decide the next challenger for the current World Champion Viswanathan Anand.

A few days ago Mamedyarov and Radjabov signed their contracts for the Candidates matches in May, 2011 in Kazan. Now all players have confirmed their participation.

Here is the final list of players.

1. Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria, runner up of the previous World Championship)
2. Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, qualified by rating)
3. Levon Aronian (Armenia, winner of the FIDE Grand-Prix 2008-2009)
4. Boris Gelfand (Israel, winner of the FIDE World Cup 2009)
5. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan, wild card)
6. Alexander Grischuk (Russia, qualification from the FIDE Grand-Prix)
7. Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan, qualification from the FIDE Grand-Prix)
8. Gata Kamsky (USA, runner up of the Challengers Match 2009).

You can find all the pairings here as announced by www.chessdom.com last month. You can also find the full regulations at this www.fide.com website link.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com