Pearl Spring chess tournament

The Pearl Spring Chess Tournament (中国(南京)国际象棋超级大赛) is a double round robin chess tournament event featuring six super-GM players that takes place in Nanjing, China. The first edition in December 2008 was won by Veselin Topalov. According to ChessVibes website, Silvio Danailov - the manager and coach of Topalov - said the Pearl Spring tournament has been "guaranteed for five years and will enter in Grand Slam [in 2009]."^[1][2] The second and third tournaments in 2009 and 2010 were both won by Magnus Carlsen in remarkable fashion, in a showing that has been rated as one of the best performances in chess history.^[3]

Together with Corus Chess Tournament in the Netherlands, Linares Chess Tournament in Spain, M-Tel Masters in Bulgaria, and Grand Slam Masters Final in Spain, Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament has become one of the five Grand Slam Tournaments in the world. It is the first in Asia and the only one in China.^[4]

Venue

The tournament is named after the venue, the Mingfa Pearl Spring Hotel located in Pukou District of Nanjing.

Organization

The tournament is organized by the Municipal People's Government of Nanjing and Chess & Cards Administration Center of General Administration of Sport of China, and the People's Government of Pukou District, Nanjing, and Nanjing Administration of Sport

• Tournament Director: Wang Yonghong
• Chief arbiter: Casto Abundo
• Arbiters: Tang Jianming, Feng Zhe, Zhang Jilin

The organization web site does not disclose the player invitation criteria or protocol. In each of the first three years, one participant was of Chinese nationality.

Sponsorship

The tournament is sponsored by Jiangsu Kanion Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Yangzi Evening News, and Mundell International University of Entrepreneurship. The total prize fund is €250,000 with a first prize of €80,000.

Support

The tournament has received support from FIDE, the European Chess Union (ECU) and the Asian Chess Federation.

Guests

Guests invited to the opening ceremony included Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, President of the World Chess Federation; Boris Kutin, President of ECU; Sheikh Sultan, President of ACU and Liang Zhirong, Secretary-General of FIDE, Xu Jialu, Vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and Nobel Prize winner, Robert A. Mundell.

Results

2008

10-22 December

The six players were Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria (Elo rating 2791, ranked first in the world); Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine (Elo rating 2786, ranked third in the world); Levon Aronian of Armenia (Elo rating 2757, ranked seventh in the world); Sergei Movsesian of Slovakia (Elo rating 2732, ranked thirteenth in the world); Peter Svidler of Russia (Elo rating 2727, ranked seventeenth in the world); Bu Xiangzhi of China (Elo rating 2714, ranked twenty-sixth in the world). With at least an Elo rating average of 2751.6, it was a category 21 tournament making it the strongest chess tournament ever held in China.

	Participant	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points
1	Veselin Topalov (BUL)	* *	½ 1	½ ½	1 1	½ 1	½ ½	7.0
2	Levon Aronian (ARM)	½ 0	* *	½ ½	½ ½	1 1	½ ½	5.5
3	Bu Xiangzhi (CHN)	½ ½	½ ½	* *	½ 0	½ 0	1 1	5.0
4	Peter Svidler (RUS)	0 0	½ ½	½ 1	* *	½ ½	0 1	4.5
5	Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR)	½ 0	0 0	½ 1	½ ½	* *	½ ½	4.0
6	Sergei Movsesian (SVK)	½ ½	½ ½	0 0	1 0	½ ½	* *	4.0

2009

September 27 - October 9 (Category 21, 2764)

First tournament of the Grand Slam series 2009-2010.

	Participant	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points	Tiebreak	Performance
1	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2772	* *	1 ½	1 ½	1 ½	1 ½	1 1	8.0		3002
2	Veselin Topalov (BUL)	2813	0 ½	* *	½ ½	½ ½	½ 1	½ 1	5.5		2789
3	Wang Yue (CHN)	2736	0 ½	½ ½	* *	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	4.5		2735
4	Teimour Radjabov (AZE)	2757	0 ½	½ ½	½ ½	* *	½ ½	½ 0	4.0	20.00	2695
5	Peter Leko (HUN)	2762	0 ½	½ 0	½ ½	½ ½	* *	½ ½	4.0	19.25	2694
6	Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS)	2742	0 0	½ 0	½ ½	½ 1	½ ½	* *	4.0	17.25	2698

2010

The 3rd edition of the tournament took place from October 19 to October 30; with at least an Elo rating average of 2766, it was a category 21 tournament.^[5]

	Participant	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points	Tiebreak	Performance
1	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2826	* *	½ ½	1 ½	½ ½	1 1	1 ½	7.0		2901
2	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2800	½ ½	* *	0 1	½ ½	1 ½	½ 1	6.0		2829
3	Etienne Bacrot (FRA)	2736	0 ½	1 0	* *	1 ½	½ 0	1 ½	5.0		2776
4	Vugar Gashimov (AZE)	2719	½ ½	½ ½	0 ½	* *	½ ½	½ ½	4.5	23.00	2740
5	Veselin Topalov (BUL)	2762	0 0	0 ½	½ 1	½ ½	* *	½ 1	4.5	19.50	2724
6	Wang Yue (CHN)	2732	0 ½	½ 0	0 ½	½ ½	½ 0	* *	3.0		2698[5]

See also

• List of strong chess tournaments
• Grand Slam Chess Association
• Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting
• Association of Chess Professionals
• Chess around the world
• FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2009

References

1. ^ "Topalov wins again (and Bu too!)". ChessVibes. http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/topalov-wins-again-and-bu-too/. Retrieved 2010-01-04. 
2. ^ "Nanjing Enters Grand Slam Association". chessbase.com. http://www.chessdom.com/news/nanjing-pearl-spring-joins-grand-slam. Retrieved 2010-01-04. 
3. ^ "Facts and figures: Magnus Carlsen's performance in Nanjing". chessbase.com. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5828. Retrieved 2010-01-04. 
4. ^ http://www.nanjing2014.org/en/news/2009/1113/272.html
5. ^ ^{a b} [1]

• Pearl Spring Super Tournament - more information from FIDE

External links

• Official website
• ChessBase Reports for 2008, 2009
• Pictures of the Pearl Spring Chess Tournament