The Grand Europe Open 2013 will take place on 1-9 June at the Albena Hall in the city of Albena, Bulgaria.
The event, organized by the Bulgarian Chess Federation, will be a 9 round Swiss open with a time control of 90 min. with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. It will be valid for GM/IM norms.
The tournament will award 70 prizes that amount to 30,000 Euros. These prizes are guaranteed regardless of the number of participants. 1st place – 5,000 Euros; 2nd place – 3,500 Euros; 3rd place – 2,500 Euros.
Seven GMs and eight IMs have already signed up to participate. The first seeds so far are Ivan Cheparinov, Sandro Mareco, Brazilian champion Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian and women’s world rapid champion Antoaneta Stefanova.
Registered players:
| 1 | GM | Cheparinov Ivan | BUL | 2702 |
| 2 | GM | Mareco Sandro | ARG | 2580 |
| 3 | GM | Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag | BRA | 2548 |
| 4 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | BUL | 2525 |
| 5 | GM | Drenchev Petar | BUL | 2490 |
| 6 | IM | Kohlweyer Bernd | GER | 2476 |
| 7 | IM | Swapnil S. Dhopade | IND | 2475 |
| 8 | IM | Mammadov Zaur | AZE | 2446 |
| 9 | GM | Gruenfeld Yehuda | ISR | 2434 |
| 10 | GM | Popchev Milko | BUL | 2433 |
GM norm possible?