6TH LONDON CHESS CLASSIC (6-14 DECEMBER 2014)
PRO-BIZ CUP – 9 December 2014, Olympia Conference Centre
A unique chance to play chess alongside world champions!
The 2014 London Chess Classic features a doubles chess rapidplay knock-out tournament in which eight super-GMs – the Super Six, Fabiano Caruana, Vishy Anand, Vlad Kramnik, Anish Giri, Hikaru Nakamura and Mickey Adams, plus leading English grandmasters Nigel Short and Gawain Jones – partner top business leaders in competition for the prestigious Pro-Biz Cup currently held by Barclays Bank. Now what we are looking for are their doubles partners!
The first partnership which will compete in the 2014 Pro-Biz Cup has already been settled: Rugby World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward (left of picture) will play alongside English grandmaster Gawain Jones (right of picture) and the two are currently preparing themselves for the fray. The race is now on to match the other seven top chess players with partners from the world of business. For anyone interested in taking part, they can apply via a form on the website. There is field in the form which allows you to state your preferred partner – so bid quickly and generously to secure the super-grandmaster of your choice! Interested business people should register their interest and bid for a player via the form on the website. All proceeds from this fun mini-tournament go to the Chess in School and Communities charity.
Doubles Chess Competition format: knock-out rapidplay with 25 minutes for each two-player team. In doubles chess, the four players each make a move in turn on the same board, hence the two players of a team play alternate moves without conferring. A new rule this year allows teams to take two one-minute time-outs in order to confer during a game. Play takes place in the auditorium. The three rounds are webcast at 10.45, 12.00 and 14.00.
Sir Clive Woodward is a rugby union international. After coaching club teams from 1990, he became England rugby coach in 1997 at a time when the game was transforming from amateur to professional status. Under Sir Clive’s management, England went on to win the Six Nation’s Grand Slam in in 2003 and the Rugby World Cup later the same year, beating the hosts and holders Australia in the final. To date, this is the only time that a European rugby team has won the sport’s most prestigious competition. Sir Clive has an interest in chess and how it can improve performance in sport, business and life.
Link to the Pro-Biz Cup Page: http://www.londonchessclassic.com/probizcup.htm
Register a bid for the Pro-Biz Cup: http://www.londonchessclassic.com/probizcupform.htm
Video of the 2013 London Chess Classic Pro-Biz Cup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyHUiGi_eZg
Weird format.