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12.10.2009
– Once a great world center of chess, London is once again playing host to a very high level tournament, the highest in the city for 25 years. Participants in the eight-player Category 19 include Carlsen, Kramnik, Nakamura, Short and Adams. The event will be staged in December at the Olympia Conference Centre in West London. There will be free live broadcast on the Internet. Tournament details.

The London Chess Classic 2009 is the highest level tournament in London for
25 years and will be the first in a series of events designed, according to
the organisers, "to increase enthusiasm for chess in the UK and promote
the game and its undoubted educational benefits in schools and communities."
It is also their objective to bring the World Chess Championship to London in
the Olympic year 2012.

England's four leading Grandmasters; Michael Adams, Nigel Short, Luke McShane
and David Howell will be pitched against a world class field that includes a
former world champion Vladimir Kramnik and 18-year-old Magnus Carlsen, ranked
world number three and widely seen a future holder of the world crown. One of
China's finest players; Ni Hua and the US Champion Hikaru Nakamura, complete
the field.

The tournament is being organised by the London
Chess Center and its very enterprising director IM Malcolm Pein, and financed
by a private sponsor from the City of London. It will be FIDE Category 19 with
an average FIDE rating of 2700. Here are the statistics of the eight players,
with the September FIDE ratings.

1
Magnus Carlsen
Norway
2772

2
Vladimir Kramnik
Russia
2772

3
Hikaru Nakamura
USA
2735

4
Nigel Short
England
2706

5
Ni Hua
China
2692

6
Michael Adams
England
2682

7
David Howell
England
2624

8
Luke McShane
England
2615

The games will be under a classical chess time control: 40 moves in two hours,
20 in the subsequent hour then an additional 15 minutes plus an increment of
30 seconds a move until the end of the game. The tournament will further benefit
from the use of Sofia Rules which disallow early draws. Players will receive
three points for a win and one for a draw.

Tournament Schedule

The events below will run in conjunction with the London Classic, 7-15 December.
Details of entry fees and prizes are now available on http://www.londonchessclassic.com/festival_events.htm.
Online entries can now be made by clicking
here a form suitable for download will be available soon as well.

Prizes

The minimum prize fund is €100,000. Included in the prize fund will be
a €10,000 Brilliant Game award along with prizes for each victory with
the white and black pieces.

The venue

The London Chess Classic will be held at the Olympia Conference Centre in
West London

The seating: for more information about the venue please visit the OCC
website

How to Get There: The Olympia Conference Centre is easily
accesible via several bus routes, tube and main line train services.

The nearest tube/train station is Kensington Olympia (District and Circle Lines).
Hammersmith Station (Piccadilly, District and Hammersmith & City Line) is
also nearby, within 20 mins walk or very short bus journey. Full instructions
can be found here
(PDF).

Broadcast

The games will be covered live online, on the official web site and on Playchess.
Fans will be able to vote for Game of the Day. Spectators will be treated to
live commentary on the games from Grandmasters and will be able to play tournament
or informal games all day.

Tickets

The London Chess Classic 2009 will offer free admission to children for the
duration of the event which runs from December 8th to 15th. Adult tickets are
just £10 per day or just £50 for all seven rounds. Adult and junior
ticket holders receive admission to the tournament, plus a guaranteed seat in
the auditorium and access to the commentary room where some of the UK’s
leading Grandmasters will give insights into the play and answer questions.
You can buy tickets here or call +44-207-388-2404.

Links Official tournament site The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!

Chessbase.com

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12.10.2009
– With his 8.0/10 score at the recent Pearl Spring tournament 18-year-old Magnus Carlsen will certainly go into the record books. But how does his result fit among the all-time great performances? Using a new [...]

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12.10.2009
– The legendary eleventh World Champion died on January 17, 2008. A year and a half later new pictures have emerged that show Bobby Fischer after his win against Boris Spassky in Reykjavik in 1972, just before he went into reclusive hiding, initially in Pasadena, California. The pictures are from a visit to the Philippines, Tokyo, Hong Kong in 1973. Unusual and strangely moving.

Bobby Fischer's visit to the Philippines, Tokyo, Hong Kong in 1973

The pictures, we are led to believe, are part of Fischer’s possessions
that had been stored in a locker house in Pasadena for decades. In June this
year some of them were purchased
in an auction by Rex and Jeanne Sinquefield, sponsors of the 2009 US Championship.
But these pictures do not appear to be from that auction sale. In fact the source
appears to be unclear. We request anyone who has information pertaining to these
pictures – the source, the persons depicted – to contact us using
the feedback form on the left of this report.

The photos have been published in a YouTube slide show, in a number of installments.
Here is the first and probably the most interesting. We will bring you the others
in the coming days. For those of our readers who do not have the time (or inclination)
to watch eight-minute videos we provide screen shots of some key passages.

The YouTube poster, whose name is given as "Nirocal", comments this
video as follows: "These are the last of the photos I have of Bobby Fischer.
He opened the first Philippines International Chess Tournament in Manila in
October 1973. There are pictures of him visiting Corregidor and the provinces.
He then went to Tokyo and Hong Kong.The last picture is of Bobby in Pasadena
dated 4/19/1974, taken by Svetozar 'Gliga' Gligoric, Yugoslav Grandmaster, a
longtime friend of Bobby's." There is also a similarly worded blurb at
the start of the video.

Chessbase.com

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