Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament 2010
Anand, Topalov, Carlsen, Gashimov, Wang Yue, and Bacrot
The Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament will take place 18th-30th October 2010. It will be one of the top closed events of the year with the participation of the World Champion Viswanathan Anand, the ex World Champion Veselin Topalov, the world number one Magnus Carlsen, and the 2700 club members Vugar Gashimov, Wang Yue, and Etienne Bacrot.
The tournament will be a double round robin with time control of two hours for 40 moves, then one hour for 20, then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30 second increment. Sofia rule will apply.
Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen continue the Gland Slam tour after having participated in the Bilbao Final Masters. Shortly before that, Carlsen also played at the Chess Olympaid in Khanty-Mansiysk. He is certainly looking to reverse the negative trend and elo drop and shine again in Nanjing after the glorious victory in the last-year event.
Former World Champion Veselin Topalov took a short break after the Olympiad and is now back in action. He was the winner of the first Nanjing tournament in 2008, while in 2009 he shared the second place behind Carlsen.
Top local player Wang Yue is representing China and Vugar Gashimov is skipping the European Club Cup to make a debut in Nanjing. According to many experts, Gashimov’s absence from the Azerbaijan national team largely reduced their chances of obtaining Olympic medal.
Etienne Bacrot is completing the field. The French is usually very well prepared and not afraid to start a direct tactical battle.
The tournament is sponsored by Jiangsu Kanion Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Yangzi Evening News, and Mundell International University of Entrepreneurship. The total prize fund is €250,000 with a first prize of €80,000.
Gashimov may shock the world by winning this one.