The annual Sparkassen Chess Meeting takes place from 14-22 July 2018 in the “Orchesterzentrum NRW” in Dortmund, Germany.. The city of Dortmund and the German Chess Federation present the world elite of the royal game in the Orchesterzentrum NRW.

Six international grandmasters and two top players of the German chess national team will sit in Dortmund on the boards that move the world. For the fifth time the Grandmaster Tournament will take place in the Orchesterzentrum NRW. The domicile in the Brückstraßenviertel has established itself as a venue due to its modern facilities in recent years.

The field of participants of the Grandmaster Tournament is led by Vladimir Kramnik (Russia). At 42 years of age he is the “tournament senior”, but no. 4 of the world rankings, but still one of the best players in the world.

In tenth place in the world rankings is Anish Giri (Netherlands). Despite his tender age, the 23-year-old grandmaster is considered an outstanding theorist and a solid player who is hard to beat. After 2011 Anish Giri starts for the second time at the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting.
For the third time, Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) will be playing in Dortmund. The 27-year-old won the European Championship in 2010 and silver at the Blitzschach World Cup 2014.

The Polish No. 2 Radoslaw Wojtaszek starts as a defending champion at the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting. His tournament victory in 2017 has been his biggest success to date and he wants to continue this year. He is at the peak of his career at the age of 31. Jan-Krzysztof Duda introduces another Polish grandmaster this year. The 20-year-old is the No. 1 of the junior world ranking and thanks to his creative and tactically accomplished style of playing in Dortmund a lot of confidence. Vladislav Kovalev (Belarus) qualified for the Sparkassen Chess meeting by winning the Aeroflot Open. The 24-year-old from Belarus improved by more than 50 points in the world ranking in 2017.

The German Chess Federation has nominated Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and Georg Meier for the Grandmaster Tournament. The parts in the Orchesterzentrum NRW will be broadcasted on large projection screens and accompanied by live commentaries via headphones. The neighboring Fritz-Henßler-Haus hosts the Helmut Kohls tournament and the Sparkassen-Open. The 24-year-old from Belarus improved by more than 50 points in the world ranking in 2017. The German Chess Federation has nominated Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and Georg Meier for the Grandmaster Tournament. The parts in the Orchesterzentrum NRW will be broadcasted on large projection screens and accompanied by live commentaries via headphones. The neighboring Fritz-Henßler-Haus hosts the Helmut Kohls tournament and the Sparkassen-Open.

Tags: , ,