History and organisation
Until 2011, the tournament took place throughout the month of June. The three first editions (2007 to 2009) took place in Bazna. Since 2010, the tournament has been a double round-robin. In 2010 and 2011 (fourth and fifth editions), there were six participants and it took place in Mediaș ; it included the world number one Magnus Carlsen. In 2012, after being postponed, the tournament took place from 7 to 14 November in Bucharest with four players; Vasyl Ivanchuk won the tournament. In 2013, the tournament took place in October with only five participants, with the eventual winner being Fabiano Caruana. In 2014, the tournament was organised via the Scheveningen system : a match-tournament between the Chinese and Romanian national teams. [1]
In 2010 and 2011, the winner of the tournament, Magnus Carlsen, qualified for the Bilbao Chess Masters Final which took place at the year end.
Sixth edition (2012) : win for Ivanchuk after tie
Round 1 7.11.12
Ivanchuk - Nisipeanu 1 - 0
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | |
| 8 | | 8 |
| 7 | 7 |
| 6 | 6 |
| 5 | 5 |
| 4 | 4 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 1 | 1 |
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | |
Position after 41... Fe2 coming from e3
The tournament, initially due to take place from 23 June to 4 July 2012, was cancelled after the withdrawal of the sponsor Romgaz. [2] It eventually took place from 7 to 14 November in Bucharest with four players (Ivantchouk, Topalov, Caruana and Nisipeanu. After 6 games, Vassili Ivantchouk and Veselin Topalov were tied on points at 3,5/6. The two players then played speed games, with Ivantchouk winning the first and tying the second, winning him his second Kings Tournament.
Vassili Ivantchouk (2763) - Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (2668) [CODE ECO E32]
1.d4 Cf6 2.c4 e6 3.Cc3 Fb4 4.Dc2 0–0 5.a3 Fxc3+ 6.Dxc3 b5 7.cxb5 c6 8.Fg5 cxb5 9.e3 Fb7 10.Cf3 a6 11.Fd3 h6 12.Fh4 d6 13.0–0 Cbd7 14.Db4 Db6 15.Fg3 Fe4 16.Fe2 Tfc8 17.Tfc1 Ce8 18.Cd2 Fc2 19.h3 Tab8 20.a4 bxa4 21.Dxb6 Cxb6 22.Fxa6 Tc7 23.Fb5 f6 24.Fxe8 Txe8 25.Fxd6 Tc6 26.Fc5 Fg6 27.Cc4 Cxc4 28.Txc4 Ta8 29.Tcxa4 Txa4 30.Txa4 Fd3 31.Ta3 Fe2 32.Ta8+ Rf7 33.Ta7+ Rg8 34.Tb7 Ta6 35.Fb4 Ta1+ 36.Rh2 Tc1 37.h4 h5 38.Fc3 Fc4 39.Tc7 Fd3 40.Tc5 Tc2 41.Rg3 Fe2 [See diagram] 42.e4 Rf7 43.d5 exd5 44.Txd5 Fg4 45.f3 Fe6 46.Txh5 Fc4 47.e5 Rg6 48.Th8 Ff1 49.exf6 1–0
Since 2014
Eighth edition (2014) : Romania - China
In 2014 the Kings Tournament was a preliminary blitz tournament between six Romanian and four Chinese players, followed by a four-round match between a team of four Romanians (Lupulescu, Parligras, Jianu and Nevednichy) and four Chinese (Wang Yue, Wei Yi, Ni Hua and Lu shanglei). China won the match 13 to 3. The two best players in each team played a rapid match. Wang Yue beat Jianu. [3]
Ninth edition (2015) : Romania - Germany
In 2015, the Kings Tournament was a five-round match between a Romania team (Deac, Parligras, Marin, Nevednichy and Lupulescu) and a Germany team (Wagner, Buhmann, Blübaum, Donchenko and Fridman). [4] The German team won 14 to 11. [5]
Tenth edition (2016) : Vladimir Kramnik - Hou Yifan rapid and blitz matches
In 2016, the Kings Tournament consisted of an eight-part rapid match and a 12 part blitz match between Vladimir Kramnik and Hou Yifan. Kramnik won the rapid match 5,5 to 2,5 and the blitz match 6 to 4. [6]
There was also a rapid tournament between five players and five Romanian players, won by Vlad-Christian Janu beating Mihail Marin, Bogdan-Daniel Deac and Levente Vajda.
Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand is an Indian chess grandmaster, a former five-time World Chess Champion and a record two-time Chess World Cup Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and he has the eighth-highest peak FIDE rating of all time. In 2022, he was elected the deputy president of FIDE.
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Champion.
The FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 was held at the Almahary Hotel in Tripoli, Libya, from June 18 to July 13, 2004.
Rustam Kasimdzhanov is an Uzbek chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Champion (2004-05). He was Asian champion in 1998.
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu is a Romanian chess grandmaster. His peak FIDE rating was 2707 in October 2005, when he was ranked fifteenth in the world, and the highest rated Romanian player ever. His highly aggressive style of play has earned him a reputation of a modern-day Mikhail Tal.
Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin is a Russian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he previously held the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, having qualified for the title at the age of 12 years and 7 months.
The FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 took place in Potrero de los Funes, San Luis Province in Argentina from September 27 to October 16, 2005. It was won by Veselin Topalov.
Mtel Masters was an annual super-GM chess tournament held between 2005 and 2009 in Sofia, Bulgaria, sponsored and organized by the Bulgarian mobile network operator, M-Tel. The tournament was held as a double round-robin at the five-star Grand Hotel Sofia.
The Amber chess tournament was an annual invitation-only event for some of the world's best players, from 1992 to 2011. Since the second edition, the event uniquely combined blindfold chess and speed chess, and has been held in Monte Carlo. The tournament was sponsored by the Dutch businessman and world champion of correspondence chess, Joop van Oosterom. Named after his daughter, the tournament was usually held in March. Her sister was the eponym to the Crystal Kelly Cup.
The World Chess Championship 2007 was held in Mexico City, from 12 September 2007 to 30 September 2007 to decide the world champion of the game of chess. It was an eight-player, double round robin tournament.
Fabiano Luigi Caruana is an Italian and American chess grandmaster who is the reigning four-time United States Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2844, Caruana is the third-highest-rated player in history.
Leinier Domínguez Pérez is a Cuban and American chess grandmaster. A five-time Cuban champion, Domínguez was the world champion in blitz chess in 2008. He competed in the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2002 and 2004, and the FIDE World Cup in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019, 2021, and 2023.
Radosław Wojtaszek is a Polish chess grandmaster. He is a six-time Polish champion.
The Chess World Cup 2007 served as a qualification tournament for the World Chess Championship 2010. It was held as a 128-player single-elimination tournament, between 24 November and 16 December 2007, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.
Below is a list of events in chess in 1996, as well as the top ten FIDE rated chess players of that year.
The Chess World Cup 2009 was a 128-player single-elimination tournament, played between 20 November and 14 December 2009, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The Cup winner qualified for the Candidates stage of the World Chess Championship 2012. Boris Gelfand defeated Ruslan Ponomariov in the final.
Constantin Lupulescu is a Romanian chess grandmaster and a five-time Romanian Chess Champion. He has competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2019, 2021.
The Bilbao Chess Masters Final is an annual chess tournament which between 2008 and 2012 brought together the strongest players from the previous year's "Grand Slam" events. Series organisers Grand Slam Chess Association (GSCA) became defunct in 2012 due to the demise of the Grand Slam hosts and scheduling problems but the Bilbao Masters continued as an annual invitational event until 2016.
The Chess World Cup 2015 was a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 10 September to 5 October 2015.
Vlad-Cristian Jianu is a Romanian chess grandmaster (2007).
