Major shock in Carlsbad

CZECH COAL CARLSBAD CHESS TOURNAMENT 2007

Hundred years of chess tournamentsIt has been exactly one hundred years since the first international chess tournament was held in the Czech countries. In 1907, the world chess top players gathered in Karlovy Vary and chess magazines in the whole world were singing their praises for months afterwards. For this anniversary, the civic association Prague Chess Society is organizing a grand master chess tournament called Czech Coal Carlsbad Chess Tournament 2007 in Karlovy Vary, where the chess elite will be present. The participation to this classical chess tournament will be the strongest in several decades compared to other competitions held in the Czech Republic.

From Friday September 7th to Saturday September 15th 2007, eight grand masters will challenge each other in the hotel Carlsbad Plaza. They were chosen carefully so that the tournament would host three players belonging to the current world top (rating over 2700 ELO points, GM Alexej Shirov, GM Ruslan Ponomarjov and GM Vladimir Akopjan), two players as chess legends (GM Viktor Korčnoj and GM Jan Timman) as well as the best chess player of Czech Republic (GM David Navara), the best chess player of Slovakia (GM Sergej Movsesjan) and the best Czech junior player (GM Viktor Láznička).

The biggest shock so far is Shirov losing 2 games with White to Laznicka and Timman!!

Round 1

Movsesian Sergei 1/2 Akopian Vladimir
Korchnoi Viktor 1/2 Timman Jan
Ponomariov Ruslan 1/2 Navara David
Shirov Alexei 0 – 1 Laznicka Viktor

Round 2

Akopian Vladimir 1-0 Laznicka Viktor
Navara David 1/2 Shirov Alexei
Timman Jan 1/2 Ponomariov Ruslan
Movsesian Sergei 1-0 Korchnoi Viktor

Round 3

Korchnoi Viktor 1/2 Akopian Vladimir
Ponomariov Ruslan 1/2 Movsesian Sergei
Shirov Alexei 0-1 Timman Jan
Laznicka Viktor 1/2 Navara David

Here is the official website.