Tuesday 19 April 2016

Norway 2016 starts today

The Norway 2016 Supertournament begins in a few hours, with a blitz event to start proceedings. Unlike the previous year, the event is not part of the 'Chess Grand Tour', giving the organisers a little more flexibility in their player selection. Nonetheless it is still a strong field, headed by World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Vladimir Kramnik, Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Lev Aronian are the other top 10 players playing, along with a number of players just outside the top 10.
One player missing is Sergey Karjakin, who pulled out after winning the 2016 Candidates event. The organisers were understandably upset with the withdrawal, although they did not invite  Karjakin (winner in 2013 and 2014) to play last year. His replacement, Li Chao (China), was clearly pleased to get a last minute call up, as he has postponed his wedding to play.
The tournament website is here, and given the difference in time zones it is more likely that Australian spectators will see the end of the rounds, rather than the start.

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