The next Zurich Chess Challenge is set to take place from 29th January to 4th February, 2014, in the largest city in Switzerland, Russian Chess Federation announced.
Last year’s winner Fabiano Caruana will be back to defend the title. He will be challenged by Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen, in their first meeting after the World Championship match in Chennai.
Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura and Boris Gelfand complete the field.
Just like in previous edition, the event will start with a blitz opener.
With the lineup being extended from four to six, the format of the main tournament will be slightly altered. Instead of the double round robin, the classical games will be played in single round robin. The win will be awarded with 2 points and draw with 1 point.
Then on the last day another round robin, only with shorter time control, will be completed. In this format the win will be awarded with 1 point and draw with a half-point.
The winner will be announced after summing up the scores from both formats.
The tournament sponsor is Russian businessman Oleg Skvortsov, with the support of the world’s oldest chess club Zurich.
