London 2012 FIDE Grand Prix kicks off
Baku, September 21 (AZERTAC). The FIDE Grand Prix Series 2012-2013 has begun. With a modest drawing of lots followed by a big party, the London FIDE Grand Prix tournament was officially opened on Thursday night at the Somerset House, on the south side of the Strand in central London, England.
The first stage of the FIDE Grand Prix series 2012/13 will take place today at the historic chess venue of Simpson`s-In-The-Strand in London at 14:00 local time (15:00 CET), with the following pairings: Kasimdzhanov-Leko, Nakamura-Gelfand, Topalov-Grischuk, Dominguez-Giri, Wang Hao-Adams and Mamedyarov-Ivanchuk.
Twelve top Grandmasters will launch an exciting series of six events with the first tournament. The City will be the centre of attention for the next two weeks as AGON organizes a top chess event which forms part of the new World Championship cycle.
Azerbaijani grand master Shahriyar Mamedyarov (2729) will compete from the first stage of the tournament, while Teimour Radjabov and Vugar Hashimov will be in action from later events.
The FIDE Grand Prix Series consists of six big tournaments which will be played over different cities between September 2012 and October 2013: London, Tashkent, Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin and Paris. Eighteen players compete, with each player playing in four of these six tournaments. Their three best results will be counted for the final ranking. Each tournament will have 12 players playing over a schedule of fourteen days.
The winner and second placed player overall of the Grand Prix Series will qualify for the Candidates Tournament to be held in March 2014.
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