Amber Chess 2010
Amber Rapid and Blindfold chess in Nice
Report by Chessdom
The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament, organized by the Association Max Euwe in Monaco, takes place from March 13 (first round) to March 25 (last round) at the Palais de la Mediterranée, splendidly located on the famous Promenade des Anglais in Nice. The total prize-fund is €216,000.
The twelve participants are (in alphabetical order): Levon Aronian (Armenia), Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Sergey Karjakin (Russia), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Alexander Morozevich (Russia), Ruslan Ponomariov, Jan Smeets (The Netherlands) and Peter Svidler.
Every day four sessions will be played, two blindfold sessions and two rapid sessions. The first session starts at 14.30 hrs. The fourth session finishes around 20.00 hrs. (Note: the final round on March 25 starts at 12.30 hrs. March 17 and 22 are rest days.)
19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament
The playing schedule of the 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament is as follows.
Saturday March 13 14.30 hrs – Round 1
Sunday March 14 14.30 hrs – Round 2
Monday March 15 14.30 hrs – Round 3
Tuesday March 16 14.30 hrs – Round 4
Wednesday March 17 Free Day
Tuesday March 18 14.30 hrs – Round 5
Friday March 19 14.30 hrs – Round 6
Saturday March 20 14.30 hrs – Round 7
Sunday March 21 14.30 hrs – Round 8
Monday March 22 Free Day
Tuesday March 23 14.30 hrs – Round 9
Wednesday March 24 14.30 hrs – Round 10
Thursday March 25 12.30 hrs – Round 11
Participants
Magnus Carlsen – Norway – Shared second in the rapid in his 2007 debut, shared second in 2008, shared first in the blindfold in 2009.
Vladimir Kramnik – Russia – Overall winner of Amber in 1996, 1998 (shared with Shirov), 1999, 2001 (shared with Topalov), 2004 (shared with Morozevich) and 2007. Shared second in 2008 and 2009.
Levon Aronian – Armenia – overall 5th in Amber 2001 and 2002
Vugar Gashimov – Azerbaijan – debuts at the competition of Amber Rapid and Blindfold
Vasily Ivanchuk – Ukraine – Overall winner in 1992, 2nd in 1996, 1997, 2000 (shared) and 2002.
Peter Svidler – Russia – Overall shared fourth in 2007.
Ruslan Ponomariov – Ukraine – This is his Amber debut.
Alexander Morozevich – Russia – Overall winner in 2002, 2004 (shared with Kramnik) and 2006 (shared with Anand), second in 2005.
Sergey Karjakin – Russia – In his second Amber in 2009 he finished in 7th place.
Leinier Dominguez – Cuba – This is his Amber debut.
Jan Smeets – The Netherlands – This is his Amber debut.
Topalov should be invited.
Topalov is usually there but he and Anand are obviously missing this tournament in order to prepare for their match. Why is it that Aronian’s best achievements are listed as overall 5th in 01 and 02 when he has won the last two editions?
Wasn’t Aronian the winner of 2008 and 2009?
From the official site:
Levon Aronian – Armenia
Elo rating: 2781
World ranking: 5
Date of birth: October 6, 1982
Amber highlights: shared 2nd in the rapid in 2006, winner in 2008 and 2009.
Whoever wrote this article mixed up with Boris Gelfand, who was 5th in 2001 and 2002.