Jan 25 – Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival Starts At The Caleta Hotel
Tomorrow sees the first move of this year’s Gibraltar Masters at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival. This is the 14th edition of the annual festival which will see over 250 players from 58 countries battle it out over two weeks at the Caleta Hotel. The total prize fund for this year is £185,000.
The tournament goes from strength to strength each year with the Financial Times having described the event as “the strongest and best-organised event of its kind in the world”. The Association of Chess Professionals once again voted the tournament in 2015 the “overall best tournament of the year”.
This evening, there is an Opening Ceremony during which Miss Gibraltar 2015 Hannah Bado will help draw the names for the first round Masters pairings. Tomorrow afternoon, the first move of the Gibraltar Masters will be made by James Humphreys, Chairman of Tradewise, the tournament’s main sponsor.
Leading entrants this year include: Vishy Anand Hikaru Nakamura Li Chao Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Radoslaw Wojtaszek Pentala Harikrishna David Howell Nigel Short Mariya Muzychuk Humpy Koneru Nana Dzagnidze Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Five times World Champion Viswanathan (Vishy) Anand, from India, will play in Gibraltar for the first time. India’s No.2, Pentala Harikrishna will also play. In total the tournament expects seven out of India's top 10. Hikaru Nakamura from the USA, last year's winner, will return to defend his title. US no.4 Gata Kamsky will also return.
Also participating is David Howell, from England, who finished 2nd last year and Nigel Short, three times former winner, will also make a welcome return.
An extensive social programme is built around the festival, including Masterclasses, two blitz team events, a dinner on the Sunborn hosted by the Minister for Tourism Samantha Sacramento, and the Battle of the Sexes.
A film crew from the UK will be present throughout, producing a daily magazine show, 'The Day's Play', presented by Tania Sachdev, former women's champion of India.
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