The 17th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament is held from March 15 to March 27 (last round) at the five-star luxury Hotel Palais de la Mediterranée, ideally situated at the famous Promenade des Anglais in Nice.

Twelve top grandmasters from ten different countries take part and the total prize-fund is 216,000 Euro.

The Amber tournament is organised by the Association Max Euwe in Monaco and generously sponsored by Mr and Mrs Van Oosterom.

The Amber tournament is one of the most prestigious chess events in the world and the only one in which half of the games are played blindfold, i.e. without the players seeing board and pieces.

1-2. Vishy Anand, India (2)
1-2. Vladimir Kramnik, Russia (1)
3. Veselin Topalov, Bulgaria (3)
4. Alexander Morozevich, Russia (4)
5. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov , Azerbaijan (6)
6. Peter Leko, Hungary (8)
7. Vasily Ivanchuk, Ukraine (9)
8. Levon Aronian, Armenia (10)
9. Boris Gelfand, Israel (11)
10. Magnus Carlsen, Norway (13)
11. Sergey Karjakin, Ukraine (14)
12. Loek van Wely, The Netherlands (35)

Here
is the official website.

The average rating of the players is 2752, which is a Category 21 FIDE event.

Who do you pick to win the rapid? Who do you pick to win the blindfold? Who will win the overall title?

Posted by Picasa
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Tags: ,