Chess tournaments are played around the world. For example, the first official tournament took place in London in 1851, other major tournamentsare played in Baden Baden, in Paris or New York. We will introduce you to other famous tournaments that formed and still form a chess history.
The Candidates Tournament
This special tournament is only for those invited respectively qualified. The winner of this tournament has the right to take part in the WorldChampionship against the current world champion (currently Magnus Carlsen). The tournament system has changed over the years, but the principle isclear - to identify the challenger in the fight for the world championship title. The Candidates Tournament could be entered from so-calledinterzonal tournaments. Today, the system is more complicated. The first two players of the FIDE Grand Prix Chess Series go to this tournament, theunsuccessful challenger for the world championship, the first two chess players from the World Cup, 2 players with the highest ELO rating and onechess player who is determined by "wild card".
Wiijk aan Zee
The prestigious chess tournament is held in the city Wiijk aan Zee in the Netherlands every year since 1938. The best players from all around theworld are present and it is nicknamed the Chess Wimbledon. It is not widely known, that it is not only a chess elite tournament, but a whole chesscarnival that organizes tournaments even for lower level players and even fro amateur players. The most successful players in the history of thetournament are two chess players - Anand and Carlsen - both of them have won the tournament 5 times.
Tournament in Dortmund
Since 1973, the well-established tournament Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting is taking place in Dortmund. The tournament is usually played intwo-round system where everyone plays against each other. Besides the Grand Tournament, there are also a number of lower level tournaments and opentournaments for the public. The ruler of this tournament is a Russian chess player Vladimir Kramnik with 10 victories.
Chess tournament in Linares
In Linares, Spain, a famous chess tournament was held every year to attract the best chess players. The tournament was founded in 1978, but it fastbecame one of the most prestigious chess tournaments in the world. It was every year only until 2010, since when the tournament is cancelled forvarious reasons. The legendary Garry Kasparov was eight times winner of this tournament.
There are plenty of other chess tournaments that we may write about later.
2020-08-15 by Peter
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