Luxembourg hosts a qualifying tournament for European Small Nations to compete in the FIDE World Chess Cup whose finalists join the group of candidates to find a challenger for the Chess World Champion, currently Magnus Carlsen. The opening ceremony is held at 19:30 on April 1st (no April fool’s joke!), hosted by Francois Biltgen, former Justice Minister and current European Court judge, and preceded by a simultaneous game at 18:00 where Woman Grandmaster Elvira Berend plays against young kids, people from public life and members of the public. Concurrently, the Luxembourg Chess Federation (FLDE) is running a media campaign to promote chess, especially in schools: chess is a sport for anyone anywhere.
Participants are from Andorra, Cyprus, Guernsey, Faroe Islands, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, and San Marino. The winner qualifies for the FIDE World Chess Cup, from which the winner and runner-up qualify for the Candidates Tournament, whose winner will challenge the reigning World Champion, currently Magnus Carlsen.
In 2014 International Master Michael Wiedenkeller won the 1st Small Nations tournament and qualified for the 2015 World Cup in Baku where he lost against Grandmaster Levon Aronian, currently number 6 of the world chess ranking. Replay the games with analysis here
Press release on the 2nd Small Nations tournament
Chessdom.com continues to support small nations and will show the daily live games with analysis both here and at the official website
