17 - 20 June 2016, Leuven-Belgium

The greatest chess tournament ever staged in Belgium

17 - 20 June 2016, Leuven-Belgium

Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri and other world top players battling it out in a 4 day Blitz and Rapid chess tournament

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The players

Magnus Carlsen

(° 30/11/1990)

He is a Norwegian chess grandmaster, No. 1 ranked player in the world and reigning World Chess Champion in classical and rapid. His peak rating is 2882, the highest in history. Carlsen was regarded as a chess prodigy as a youngster, and became a Grandmaster in 2004, at the age of 13 years. In 2010, at the age of 19 years, he became the youngest chess player to be ranked FIDE world No. 1. In 2013, Carlsen won the title world chess champion, by defeating Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2013.

Vladimir Kramnik

(° 25/6/1975)

He is a Russian chess Grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007. He has won three team gold medals at Chess Olympiads. In October 2000, he defeated Garry Kasparov  and became the Classical World Chess Champion. Kramnik defeated reigning FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov in the World Chess Championship 2006. In 2007, Kramnik lost the title to Viswanathan Anand. 

Fabiano Caruana

(° 30/7/1992)

He is an Italian-American chess grandmaster, former chess prodigy, and at various times the No. 2 ranked player in the world. On 15 July 2007 Caruana became a grandmaster (GM) at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United States (his US record was beaten in October 2009 by Ray Robson). In October 2014, he achieved an Elo rating of 2844, becoming the third highest rated player in history.

Anish Giri

(° 28/6/1994)

He is a Russian-born Dutch Grandmaster and former chess prodigy. He achieved the grandmaster title at the age of 14 years and 7 months. Giri is a four-time Dutch Chess Champion (2009, 2011, 2012, and 2015) and won the Corus Chess B Group in 2010. He has represented the Netherlands at three Chess Olympiads (Russia, Turkey, Norway).

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

(° 21/10/1990)

Sometimes referred to as MVL, he is a French chess Grandmaster and the 2009 World Junior Chess Champion. He is the No. 1 ranked player in France. Vachier-Lagrave is a three-time French champion (2007, 2011, shared 2012) and four-time winner of the Biel Grandmaster Tournament (2009, 2013, 2014, 2015).

Hikaru Nakamura

(° 9/12/1987)

He is an American chessgrandmaster. He is a four-time United States Chess Champion, who won the 2011 edition of Tata Steel Group A and represented the United States at five Chess Olympiads, winning two team bronze medals. He has also written a book about bullet chess called Bullet Chess: One Minute to Mate. In October 2015, he reached his peak FIDE rating of 2816, which ranked him second in the world. In May 2014, when FIDE began publishing official rapid and blitz chess ratings, Nakamura ranked number one in the world on both lists.

Levon Aronian

(° 6/10/1982)

He is an Armenianchess Grandmaster. Aronian won the Chess World Cup 2005. He led the Armenian national team to the Gold medals in three Chess Olympics (Turin, Dresden, Istanbul) and at the World Team Chess Championship in 2011. He won the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010. He was also World Rapid Chess Champion in 2009, and World Blitz Chess Champion in 2010. Aronian has been the leading Armenian chess player since the early 2000’s. 

Wesley So

(° 9/10/1993)

He is a Filipino chess grandmaster representing the United States. A former chess prodigy, So became the youngest player to pass 2600 Elo rating in October 2008, breaking the record previously held by Magnus Carlsen. In February 2015 he entered the World top 10 after tying for second place at the 2015 Tata Steel Chess Tournament. He is a three-time Philippines Chess Champion. In 2015, he won the Bilbao Chess Masters Final. 

Viswanathan Anand

(° 11/12/1969)

He is an Indian chessGrandmaster and the former World Chess Champion. He became India's first grandmaster in 1988. He held the FIDE World Chess Championship from 2000 to 2002. He became the undisputed World Champion in 2007 and defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008. He then defended his title in 2010 against Veselin Topalov and in 2012 against Boris Gelfand. In the World Chess Championship 2013 he lost to challenger Magnus Carlsen and he lost again to Carlsen in the World Chess Championship 2014. 

Veselin Topalov

(° 15/3/1975)

He is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. Topalov became the FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. He lost his title in the World Chess Championship 2006 match against Kramnik. He was ranked number one in the world from April 2006 to January 2007. In the World Chess Championship 2010, he was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand.

The schedule

Friday, 17th June

Rapidplay Day 1

14.00h
Round 1
G / 25 mins + 10 secs
15.30h
Round 2
G / 25 mins + 10 secs
17.00h
Round 3
G / 25 mins + 10 secs
18.30h
Round 4
G / 25 mins + 10 secs
20.00h
Round 5
G / 25 mins + 10 secs

Saturday, 18th June

Rapidplay Day 2

14.00h
Round 6
G / 25 mins + 10 secs
15.30h
Round 7
G / 25 mins + 10 secs
17.00h
Round 8
G / 25 mins + 10 secs
18.30h
Round 9
G / 25 mins + 10 secs

Sunday, 19th June

Blitz Day 1

14.00h
Round 1
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
14.25h
Round 2
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
14.50h
Round 3
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
15.15h
Round 4
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
16.00h
Round 5
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
16.25h
Round 6
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
16.50h
Round 7
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
17.15h
Round 8
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
17.40h
Round 9
G / 5 mins + 2 secs

Monday, 20th June

Blitz Day 2

12.00h
Round 10
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
12.30h
Round 11
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
13.00h
Round 12
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
13.30h
Round 13
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
14.00h
Round 14
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
15.00h
Round 15
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
15.30h
Round 16
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
16.00h
Round 17
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
16.30h
Round 18
G / 5 mins + 2 secs
17.00h AWARD CEREMONY

Join us

We are fully booked and you can no longer register. Sorry! You can still watch the tournament live via the internet lifestream.

Everybody that has registered will receive an e-mail early next week with more practical information.

News

World champion Magnus Carlsen wins Your Next Move Grand Chess Tour

22/06/2016
Magnus Carlsen wins prestigious chess tournament in Belgium. 1.500 visitors in historic town hall, 300.000 people watched online.
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World champion Magnus Carlsen wins Your Next Move Grand Chess Tour

22/06/2016

In Paris, at the first leg of the Grand Chess Tour 2016, Hikaru Nakamura was able to get the better of World Champion Magnus Carlsen. But at the second Grand Chess Tour tournament 2016 here in Leuven Carlsen came back with a vengeance. He showed an impressive performance in the second part of the blitz tournament and won the event convincingly. Wesly So (US) ended in second place en Levon Aronian (Armenia) in third. Full reporting (video, comments, etc.) on all the games played can be found on www.chess24.com and www.grandchesstour.org. The tournament attracted 1.500 visitors to the historical town hall of Leuven and more than 300.000 people watched the games unfold online. Garry Kasparov and Jan Callewaert, the main sponsor of the event, awarded the prizes to Carlsen.

 

World's Top-10 chess players battle it out in 4-day tournament

09/05/2016
The best chess players in the world will compete in a Rapid Chess and Blitz Chess tournament. The prize money for the tournament is $ 150.000 (€ 134.100).
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World's Top-10 chess players battle it out in 4-day tournament

09/05/2016

The historic Town Hall where the players will compete

The greatest chess tournament ever staged in Belgium,Your Next Move Grand Chess Tour, will take place in the historic Town Hall of Leuven from Friday 17 June until Monday 20 June.

The best chess players in the world at the moment will take part in the tournament: World Champion Magnus Carlsen, former World Champions Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov,  as well as Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura, Aronian Levon and Wesley So. 

The players will compete in a Rapid Chess and Blitz Chess tournament during the 4 days. The prize money for the tournament is $ 150.000 (€ 134.100).

Your Next Move Grand Chess Tour is part of the the Grand Chess Tour 2016, a series of  4 chess events organized worldwide (Paris - France, Leuven - Belgium, Saint Louis – USA and London - UK). This tournament being held in Belgium is truly uniqe and is ‘the greatest chess event ever staged in Belgium’. Never before have the 10 smartest, fastest and strongest chess players of the moment – coming from Norway, Russia, USA, France, Netherland, Bulgaria, Armenia and India – competed against each-other in Belgium.

Chess fans will be able to enjoy the experience of seeing the greatest players compete live in Leuven or watch the streaming broadcast, complete with grandmaster commentary.

Your Next Move, a non-profit organization and the organizer of the event in Leuven, promotes chess as an educational tool for children and youngsters in Belgium.

The organization is not new to staging this type of event. Your Next Move has organised tournaments for children where the winners could play against the legendary chess player Garry Kasparov. They also organised the chess blitz match between Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short, the famed English Grand Master and Kasparov’s opponent in their 1993 World Chess Championship duel.

For more information and visitor registration: www.yournextmove.be

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Grand Chess Tour announces field for 2016 season

01/05/2016
Nine of the top-ten chess players will compete in all four tournaments: Rapid and Blitz in Paris and Leuven, the Sinquefield Cup (US) and the London Chess Classic. World Champion Magnus Carlsen will compete as a wildcard in both Paris and Leuven.
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Grand Chess Tour announces field for 2016 season

01/05/2016

Levon Aronian vs. Magnus Carlsen

The Grand Chess Tour announced that the world’s top-ten ranked players will compete in the 2016 Tour. Nine of the top-ten chess players will compete in all four tournaments: Rapid and Blitz in Paris and Brussels-Leuven, the Sinquefield Cup and the London Chess Classic. World Champion Magnus Carlsen will compete as a wildcard in both the Paris and Brussels-Leuven stops.

“It's great news that the Grand Chess Tour have expanded with two new tournaments in Paris and Brussels,” said Carlsen. “I'm looking forward to playing both. Unfortunately, due to a very busy schedule, I won't be able to play in Saint Louis or London this year. Hopefully I will get a new chance to fight for the GCT title again next year.”

The nine players are: Vladimir Kramnik, Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Hikaru Nakamura, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, Veselin Topalov, Wesley So and Viswanathan Anand.

In addition to the nine players, each tournament will have a wildcard entry. The wildcard for Saint Louis will be Ding Liren and another wildcard in Paris will be Laurent Fressinet. The London wildcard will be determined at a later date. The Grand Chess Tour will feature the world’s top players competing for over one million dollars in a mixture of traditional, rapid and blitz events in four countries.

“The class and strength of the field this year is truly remarkable”, said Michael Khodarkovsky, Grand Chess Tour spokesperson. “Chess fans around the world will be able to see and enjoy the greatest players compete in these four tournaments during the year.”

All four tournaments will be broadcast online and can be seen at grandchesstour.org.

The 2016 Grand Chess Tour season will include rapid and blitz tournaments in Paris and Brussels-Leuven in addition to the Sinquefield Cup and London Chess Classic.

Participating tournaments are identified as the gold standard for international event organization, setting the model for player conditions, prize funds and spectator experience. Each of the events will cater to live audiences, as well as offer streaming broadcasts complete with grandmaster commentary.

For more information, visit www.grandchesstour.org.

 

About

The Grand Chess Tour

Your Next Move Grand Chess Tour is part of “The Grand Chess Tour”, a series of international Chess Majors held throughout the year 2016 with a $USD 1 Million overal prize fund, which includes tournaments in the USA, France, Belgium and the UK.  The Grand Chess Tour was created with one goal in mind: a circuit of international events, each demonstrating the highest level of organization for the world's best players.  The legendary Garry Kasparov, one of the world's greatest ambassadors for chess, inspired the Grand Chess Tour and helped solidify the partnership between the organizers. His tireless efforts to popularize the game around the world mirror the goals and ambitions of the Grand Chess Tour.

More information: www.grandchesstour.org

Your Next Move

Your Next Move, a non-profit organization and the organizer of this event, promotes chess as an educational tool for children and youngsters in Belgium. By playing chess, children and youngsters learn to analyze and assess difficult situations, to act fast and to act under pressure. Chess enables them to learn to think in a creative and strategic way. Those same qualities will prove to be indispensable in life which increasingly becomes more complex, more global, where evolutions become revolutions and communication channels multiply all the time.