A World stage in Liverpool for kings of the chess board
Sep 9 2008 by Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post
World Museum Liverpool _320
THE strongest field to be assembled for a chess tournament in Britain will gather today at Liverpool’s World Museum.
Fifty Grandmasters from across Europe, the most ever assembled in one tournament, join 100 local players in the 4th European Union Open Championships.
More than 25 countries are represented, including 20 national champions, the reigning European and British champions, and former British World Championship finalists, Nigel Short and Mickey Adams.
The field also includes World Junior Championship runner-up, David Howell, 17, Britain's youngest Grandmaster.
The youngest competitor is Emma Bentley, aged 10 and the oldest Grandmaster is champion of the former Soviet Union, Alexander Beliavsky.
The tournament’s main organiser, Professor David Robertson of Liverpool JMU, said: "We’ve never seen anything like this in 200 years of British chess.
"This is the strongest Open tournament ever held. Demand to play has been so great, we’ve had to turn Grandmasters away."
Each contestant plays every day, with the highest scoring player declared the winner at the end of the tournament.
Prizes range from £300 to £6,000, with a total prize fund of £30k.
This tournament follows hugely popular events in Liverpool in 2006 and 2007, including the Great Britain v China match last year. Earlier this year, more than 1,000 people took part in the British Championships in St George’s Hall.
Liverpool John Moores University is sponsoring a series of Excellence Awards for the best game in each round of the tournament and there will be a £100 best game prize for each of the 10 rounds of the 4th EU Championship.
In addition £100 will be awarded for the best overall prize.
Professor Robertson, who is also a participant in this week’s event, added: "Liverpool now ranks among the best European cities as a venue for high quality chess. We’ve proved that Liverpool can be rightly associated with high skills achievement and superbly delivered success."
Organisers expect worldwide attention for the event, with up to 5m visits per day to the games shown live on the tournament website- http://www.liverpoolchessinternational.co.uk/index.htm
THE event begins at 2pm today in the World Museum on William Brown Street, finishing on September 18.
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