Bilbao Final Masters 2013, the top competition of the Grand Slam Chess Association, is going to take place 7-13 October in Bilbao, Spain. The participants in this year’s edition are Levon Aronian, Vachier-Lagrave, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and Michael Adams. The format of the event will be a double round robin.
The organizers have expressed their satisfaction from the field, despite the absence of Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand who are preparing for the World Chess Championship 2013 (ed: official site launched http://chennai2013.fide.com/). Adding more players to the field was also hindered by the coinciding as dates event Kings Tournament 2013.
The Bilbao Final Masters takes place right before the long awaited European Club Cup 2013 in Rhodes, where most players from the 2700 club will face each other in the strongest team competition of the year. Two of the Bilbao participants are playing there. Vachier-Lagrave is heading the 9th seeded team of Clichy, while Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is 7th(!) board of the top seeded Socar. See all clubs and participants here
The European Club Cup 2014 will take place exactly in Bilbao and is expected to continue the tradition of being the top club event in the world.
After the drawing of lots, the first round matches on October 7th will be: Aronian-Vachier-Lagrave and Adams – Mamedyarov. Games start at 17:00 CET.
Bilbao Final Master 2013: Live games / Information / Watch TCEC live / Play at Chessdom Arena
Important Bilbao 2013 resources
Norwegian: Bergensjaak / Nettavisen
Italian: Scacchierando
Spanish: Ajedrez en castellano
Russian: e3e5.com / chessdom.ru
Czech: NSS.cz
