Grand Slam Chess Association
The Masters Final 2009 will be held in Bilbao from September 6th to 12th
The II Grand Slam Final Chess Masters 2009 will be held in Bilbao from September 6th to September 12th on the same stage that hosted the 2008 Bilbao Masters Final. Therefore, the Bilbao Plaza Nueva (central square), in the heart of the city, will again host the great glass cube that made it possible last year for a tournament of such prestige to be played outdoors for the first time in the public domain.
The Masters Final 2009 is played exclusively by the four winning players of the tournaments that, along with Bilbao, make up the Grand Slam Chess Association and are among the best tournaments in the world: Corus Wijk aan Zee, Holland; Ciudad de Linares, Spain; Mtel Masters, Sofia, Bulgaria; and the Pearl Spring Tournament of Nanjing, China, this year incorporated into the Grand Slam.
The four chess players who will compete in the Bilbao Final are Sergey Karjakin, the winner of Wijk ann Zee, Alexander Grischuk, winner of Ciudad de Linares, Alexei Shirov, winner in Sofia, and Levon Aronian, second-place winner of Nanking – since as Veselin Topalov, winner of Nanking, has refused the invitation to play the Final.
For the Organizing Committee, along with institutions, sponsors and partners, the international economic situation has been a determining factor to decide that, in this Final, the budget and prizes must be tightened up in order to be sensitive to the social effects derived from the crisis. This approach doesn’t meet the expectations of Veselin Topalov, who also has valued the hardness of the Final Masters. The World Championship that he will play is just around the corner, and these factors have led him to refuse the invitation of the Grand Slam.
Here is the rest of the press release.
Once again, the 9 time winner of Dortmund and the one many still consider to be the true World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik is excluded from an event. Forced to give up his title by FIDE then forced to play as the challenger to get his title back, and now dis-invited to all the best tournaments. Is this anyway to treat the only person who beat Garry Kasparov in a match, I ask?
“Once again, the 9 time winner of Dortmund and the one many still consider to be the true World Champion,…”
Only by you. Only by you.
“Vladimir Kramnik is excluded from an event.”
Thats shows how little you actually know about chess. Nobody gets invited to the grand slam final, everybody has to earn their spot by winning a grand slam tournament. Kramnik didn’t win any.
“Is this anyway to treat the only person who beat Garry Kasparov in a match, I ask?”
Look on the calendar. It may come as a surprise to you, but we are writing the year 2009.