27 April 2011
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everybody,
Can you tell us who must be watching Grandmaster Gata Kamsky most closely at the ongoing US Chess Championship Final 2011? If you said GM Veselin Topalov then you’re absolutely correct!
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| Kazan National Library |
In one week’s time – May 3-27 – the FIDE Candidates matches will begin in Kazan, Russia. It is Veselin Topalov vs Gata Kamsky, Vladimir Kramnik vs Teimour Radjabov, Levon Aronian vs Alexander Grischuk and Boris Gelfand vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. One of them would qualify for a match with reigning World Chess Champion Vishy Anand for the title match.
The matches, with the above pairings, will be played over four games. Two days after these matches end, the second round starts, with the winner of Topalov-Kamsky against the winner of Gelfand-Mamedyarov and the winner of Kramnik-Radjabov against the winner of Aronian-Grischuk. These matches will also consist of four games. The final match will consist of six games. That means we have quarterfinals and semifinals as best of four games with the final as the best of six games.
The matches, with the above pairings, will be played over four games. Two days after these matches end, the second round starts, with the winner of Topalov-Kamsky against the winner of Gelfand-Mamedyarov and the winner of Kramnik-Radjabov against the winner of Aronian-Grischuk. These matches will also consist of four games. The final match will consist of six games. That means we have quarterfinals and semifinals as best of four games with the final as the best of six games.
Time control
The time control will be 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds increment per move, starting from move 61. Tiebreaks will consist of four games of 25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment, two blitz games (five minutes plus three seconds) and one sudden death game (five against 4, with 3 seconds increment from move 61, and draw odds for Black).
Prizes
The four losers of the first round matches will each receive a (minimum) amount of 30,000 euros. The two losers of the second round matches will each receive a (minimum) amount of 60,000 euros. The minimum prize fund for the final match of the 3rd round is 180,000 euros which will be divided 50%-50% between the two players (90,000 euros each).
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