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Second Grand Prix Tournament: Sochi 2008 |
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Monday, 28 July 2008 |
Before we know it, the time has come for already the second tournament in the FIDE Grand Prix Series. On Wednesday, July 30, 2008 Sochi 2008
will be officially opened. Fourteen of the strongest chess grandmasters
will compete in the Russian city at the Black Sea.
The tournament will run July 30 - August 15, with
thirteen rounds and two rest days - the standard schedule for all six tournaments. The first Grand Prix
was won by Vugar Gashimov, Wang Yue and Magnus Carlsen and of these
three players, Gashimov and Wang Yue will also compete in Sochi.
The big favourite, however, is Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR), whose new rating
is no less than 37 points higher than second seeded Teimour Radjabov
(AZE), who also played in Baku. The other players who already
participated in the first GP, are Peter Svidler (RUS), Alexander
Grischuk (RUS), Sergey Karjakin (UKR), Gata Kamsky (USA), Ivan
Cheparinov (BUL) and David Navara (CZE). For Levon Aronian (ARM), Boris
Gelfand (ISR), Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS, the host city's nominated player)
and Mohamad Al Modiahki (QTR), Sochi 2008 will be the first Grand Prix
tournament.
The Russian resort city Sochi (population 400,000) is situated in
Krasnodar Krai, just north of the southern Russian border. It sprawls
along the shores of the Black Sea against the background of the
snow-capped peaks of the Caucasus Mountains. The city has been selected
to host the XXII Olympic Winter Games in 2014.
View on Sochi from the Black Sea (source: Wikipedia )
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