Zurich Chess Challenge 2014 with Anand and Carlsen: After India, it's "Battlefield Switzerland"

The Zurich Chess Challenge 2014 will be the first encounter between India’s Viswanathan Anand and Norway’s Magnus Carlsen after their forthcoming world championship match in Chennai.

From Wednesday, 29 January to Tuesday, 4 February 2014, they will compete in the 3rd Zurich Chess Challenge along with four other great chess stars Levon Aronian (Arm), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Fabiano Caruana (It) and Boris Gelfand (Isr). With an average of 2794 Elo points (according to the September 13 rating list), this is going to be the strongest tournament in chess history.

The main sponsor is Oleg Skvortsov of the International Gemological Laboratories, Moscow, with the Zurich Chess Club acting as organizer.

The first Zurich Chess Challenge in 2012 was a match between Kramnik and Aronian. The second event in 2013 was a double-round robin with Kramnik, Anand, Caruana and Gelfand.

For the 2014 edition, a blitz tournament will determine the color distribution. A round-robin tournament of five rounds with a classical time control is then followed by a rapid tournament with colors reversed on the last day of play.

A won game in the classical tournament counts 2 points, a draw 1 point. Wins in the rapid tournament count 1 point and draws half a point. All games will be commented by Yannick Pelletier and Werner Hug and broadcast live via Internet.

Participants

Magnus Carlsen (Norway, Elo 2862, Nr 1)

Levon Aronian (Armenia, Elo 2813, Nr 2)

Fabiano Caruana (Italy, Elo 2779, Nr 5)

Vishwanathan Anand (India, Elo 2775, Nr 7)

Hikaru Nakamura (USA, Elo 2772, Nr 9 )

Boris Gelfand (Israel, Elo 2764, Nr 11)

Schedule

Daily from 29 January to 4 February 2014.

Spectators are welcome, entrance free.

Viswanathan Anand has also signed up for the London Chess Classic in December, 2013. In case Carlsen also attends the event, then the duo would meet in London before Zurich Chess Challenge, 2014.