Europe vs. South America

Corus Final-4: Europe vs. South America

We’re set for an intriguing Europe vs. South America all-grandmaster final four of the Corus tournament this weekend on the Internet Chess Club – a unique satellite qualifier for the 2009 ‘C’ Group in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands.

Last week’s event started with 16-players – selected by Corus, in consultation with ICC – from around the globe, fighting it out in an online rapid knockout tournament. And that field has now been whittled down to the final-4 of GM Eduardo Iturrizaga (Venezuela) vs. GM Georg Meier (Germany) and GM Ivan Salgado (Spain) vs. GM Alexander Fier (Brazil).

Play gets underway November 8th & 9th (starting at 10am Eastern Time – 4pm CET), with the winner receiving the Corus ‘C’ Group invite, a round-trip ticket to Wijk aan Zee, Hotel & Breakfast plus $1,300 (1,000 Euro).

Players will play a two-game rapid (25 min + 5 sec) match and, if needed, a tiebreaker of two-game blitz (5 min + 1 sec) and deciding armageddon game. And to ensure fair-play for all, at each location and for each match, an independent “proctor” will be in place to oversee the proceedings, many of whom being national chess officials, international arbiters, national arbiters and ICC administrators.
For further information of the tournament and the pairings, click here.

Contact: John Henderson, ICC Director of Marketing