PRESS RELEASE:
For immediate use
Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour explainer:
Game on! Magnus out for revenge as Chessable Masters kicks off
Thousands of fans have been drawn to online chess by this rivalry – and today it will hit fever pitch.
World Champion Magnus Carlsen and World Blitz Champion Hikaru Nakamura go head-to-head in the first round of $150,000 Chessable Masters group stage.
The event, broadcast live on chess24, is the next stage of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour which carries a total prize pot of $1 million, a record for the online game.
Carlsen, Norway’s world number 1 for a decade, will be keen to avenge his painful semi-final defeat to his American rival earlier this month.
Nakamura, meanwhile, will seek to claim he is the new man to beat in online chess if he comes out on top.
The pair appeared at each other’s throats during the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge and go again immediately after having been drawn together in Group A of the Chessable Masters.
Also in Group A, and making his tour debut, is India’s Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna who faces Vladislav Artemiev first up.
Daniil Dubov, the in-form young Russian who triumphed at the Lindores event and walked away with $45,000, faces fellow countryman Alexander Grischuk.
The event, which runs until July 5, is being put on in association with Chessable and the tour’s Education Partner, leading Swiss private banking group, Julius Baer.
Players are split into two groups (A and B) of six which play on alternate days for the preliminary stage before eight progress to the knockouts.
The A Group consists of Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Daniil Dubov, Alexander Grischuk, Vladislav Artemiev and Pentala Harikrishna.
The B Group features Fabiano Caruana, Ding Liren, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Teimour Radjabov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Anish Giri.
The final winner will take home top prize of $45,000 and a ticket to the $300,000 tour Grand Final.
Coverage begins with commentary in 10 languages at 16.00 CEST.
Highlights English:
New files at around 11pm CEST
Highlights Audio Multitrack:
New files ready around 1 or 2am CEST
Highlights Norwegian:
New files ready between 11pm and 2am CEST
Rough edit highlights:
New files ready around 2am CEST
Everything video related to Chessable Masters will be here (intros, profiles, etc):
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Leon Watson