Schachgesellschaft Zürich’s Jubilee

Press Release / Zurich, 2 April 2009

Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity to Play Against a World Champion at the Schachgesellschaft Zürich’s Jubilee!

The celebrations in August 2009 to mark the 200th anniversary of the Schachgesellschaft Zürich will be a dream come true for a few chess players. The world’s oldest chess club is offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at the simultaneous exhibition at Zurich Main Station on 22
August: 100 chess enthusiasts will get the chance to cross swords with champions such as Kasparov or Anand in simultaneous games. Taking place alongside this event are an open tournament featuring a world-class line-up, which is being held from 9 to 15 August, and the Champions Rapid, the rapid chess tournament on 23 August.

100 chess enthusiasts will be picked from those who answer the 10 competition questions correctly and will be given the chance to fulfill their dreams. On 22 August 2009, they will play at Zurich Main Station in the Champions Simultan against a World Chess Champion: Viswanathan Anand, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Viktor Korchnoi, Vladimir Kramnik, Boris Spassky, Ruslan Ponomariov, Veselin Topalov — each of these players will take on 25 amateurs. 200 matches to represent each year of the Schachgesellschaft Zürich, which was founded in 1809. 16 simultaneous matches — each champion’s first two games — will be broadcast live on the Internet.

All information regarding the competition can be found in the recently published official jubilee programme, which is available for download at www.sgzurich2009.ch. The programme also contains information on the Champions Rapid — the rapid chess tournament for the champions — starting on 23 August, the Jubilee-Open from 9 to 15 August as well as the history of the world’s oldest chess club. Richard Forster’s book entitled “Die Schachgesellschaft Zürich. 1809 bis 2009”, which outlines the club’s history, will be appearing from the end of May to commemorate the jubilee.

The Jubilee-Open at the Kongresshaus Zurich is set to welcome an extraordinarily high-class line-up. In the Alois Nagler Memorial (master tournament) and in the Accentus (Swiss Chess) Open — the general tournament — players ranging from beginners to world-class players will
fight it out for a total of 100,000 Swiss Francs in prize money. 16 grandmasters have already registered, including the opening specialist and former World Championship Candidate Alexey Dreev. Many grandmasters have already expressed interest in taking part in the competition,
including super-grandmasters who have an Elo rating of over 2700. Entrants have until 4 August to register for the Jubilee-Open; the easiest way to do this is to fill in the online form on the jubilee website at www.sgzurich2009.ch.

Please visit www.sgzurich2009.ch for further information about the Schachgesellschaft Zürich’s jubilee.

Dr. Christian Rohrer
Schachgesellschaft Zürich
Jubilee 2009
Communications
www.sgzurich2009.ch
rohrer@sgzurich2009.ch