Two chess legends will meet in a rapid chess match in Riga, Latvia from July 7 to July 9. 12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov (Russia) will meet the renowned chess theoretician Evgeny Sveshnikov (Latvia) in a 6 game match.
The games start at 2pm UTC (16:00 CET, 10:00 EST) on July 7 and 8, and at 12am on July 9.
The match will be played in the center of Riga at the luxury Tal Residence appartment building. The venue is perfectly suited for the match, as explained on the projects website: “Architect Ingurds Lazdins has used chess motifs in the facade of the building: geometry of the bay windows represents chess figures of different heights, and combination of light and dark toned glass – an imaginative chessboard. Monoliths of pillars on the first floor, high and skyward “capitols”, bearing the load of the building, represent the triumphant gesture of Tal, as his hands are raised up holding the Champion’s Cup.”
Official website / Live games with analysis
Anatoly Karpov is one of the greatest players of all time. He became the World Champion in 1975 and held the title till 1985. From 1993 till 1999 Karpov was the FIDE World Champion. Karpovs rivalry with Garry Kasparov in their five World Championship matches from 1984 till 1990 is one of the most fascinating pages in the history book of the game. Karpov is considered to be one of the greatest players of all time – a great master of positional chess, whose feel for the position can only be compared to Capablanca and Carlsen.
Evgeny Sveshnikov became a Grandmaster in 1977 and is a two time Latvian Champion (2003 and 2010). He has won several international tournaments like Le Havre (1977) and Cienfuegos (1979). Sveshnikov is best known as the author of Sveshnikov Variation in the Sicilian Defense – a variation played successfully at he highest level by the worlds best players. Sveshnikov has also greatly contributed to the development on Alapin Variation of the Sicilian Defense and the Advance variation of the French Defense. He is an author of several popular opening books on these variations.