According to our friends at Chessdom, former World Champion Veselin Topalov will skip Corus, citing World Championship as his top priority.

Veselin Topalov rejected the invitation to participate at the next Corus Chess Tournament that is starting on January, newspaper “168 Chasa” reported. For many years he was regularly attending in Wijk an Zee, but his team has decided that this tournament is in collision with the training schedule for 2009, whose ultimate goal is the return of world championship title.

According to the same source, Topalov’s next year schedule is already cemented and he has signed all the contracts. Beside the World Championship cycle, another important commitment is series of Grand Slam tournaments. (ed note: Corus is also a Grand Slam event)

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Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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