Sunday 25 October 2015

Bilbao Masters 2015

The 2015 Bilbao Masters begins tomorrow, following its recent format of a 4 player double round robin. While initially set up as final for the Grand Slam series of chess events, these days it is simply a very strong Super GM event. This years edition features Anand, Giri, So and Ding. Despite being the oldest player in the tournament, Anand is the top seed, although at this level, ratings seem to matter less.
While the invite list may have changed, the tournament is still sticking to some other traditions. It is using the 3-1-0 scoring system, and draws can only be agreed with the permission of the arbiter. The rate of play is also a kind of fast/slow hybrid, with 40 moves in 90 minutes (fast-ish), followed by 60 minutes (a larger than normal bonus), with a 10 second increment from move 41 (a fast increment).
Live coverage of the event is at the tournament website, although with only 6 rounds on offer, blink and you may miss it.

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