London Chess Classic 2014
Chess in Schools and Communities announced the 6th London Chess Classic which will take place on 6-14th December at the Olympia Conference Centre in Kensington, London.
The main event is the Super Rapidplay Open on 6-7th December with the prize fund of £25,000. Top Grandmasters Fabiano Caruana, Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura, Michael Adams andAnish Giri have confirmed participation.
The Super Rapidplay is a 10-round FIDE rated open tournament with no grading sections; instead all players play in the same section and generous grading prizes have been added. This event will feature all of the players who are taking part in the main event of the London Chess Classic along with many GMs and IMs.
Pairings: In the first round, the six super Grandmasters from the London Chess Classic will be paired against junior players who have been selected from a qualifying junior tournament. Pairings for all other rounds will be made according to FIDE swiss pairing rules, using the Swiss Master computer program.
Time Control: All moves in 25 minutes plus a 10 second increment per move from move 1.
FIDE Open (9 round Swiss) with a guaranteed £11,500 prize fund will be held on 8-14th December. The organisers will invite a minimum of 12 Grandmasters to offer GM and IM norm opportunities.
The three highest placed eligible players in the FIDE Rated Open not already qualified will qualify for the 2015 British Championships.
Weekday Tournaments (5 round Swiss)
2 sections: FIDE U2000 & ECF U135
8-12th December
Weekend Tournaments (5 round Swiss)
4 sections: Open, U2000, U1800 (all FIDE Rated), ECF U120
12-14th December
The highest placed eligible player in the Open section of the Weekend Classic not already qualified will qualify for the 2015 British Championships.
Chess and Mathematics – Chess and Education Conference
This international conference at the start of the London Chess Classic 2014 (6-7th December) brings together leading experts in the fields of scholastic chess and mathematics education. By introducing a high level of cognitive skills into the classroom and improving problem solving, logical analysis and concentration levels, chess is ideal for the enhancement of mathematical thinking. Learning is enriched by a growing variety of mini-games, chess variants, puzzles and activities.
There will be Grandmaster Simultaneous Displays during the London Chess Classic with places open to the public.
Why no Carlsen?