23rd November 2015

NEW ELITE EVENT AT THE LONDON CHESS CLASSIC: BRITISH KNOCKOUT CHAMPIONSHIP

A new high-level event is joining the extensive list of tournaments that make up the 7th London Chess Classic Festival: Eight of Britain’s best chess players, with the exception of Michael Adams, who plays in the Classic itself, will contest the inaugural British Knockout Championship.

The prize fund dwarfs that available in the British Championship and the winner of the British Knockout Championship will get a hefty £20.000, with £10.000 for the runner-up, £5.000 for 3rd-4th, and £2.500 each for 5th-8th.

The quarter finals will take place on the 1st December and the semi finals on the 2nd December at the Kensington Olympia Hilton Hotel London. The six-game final, which will run from 4-9 December - with a possible play-off on the 10th December - will be held at Olympia, alongside the other London Chess Classic events.

Here is the line-up for the first British Knockout Championship:

David Howell ENG GM 2693 Luke McShane ENG GM 2687 Nigel Short ENG GM 2686 Gawain Jones ENG GM 2615 Jonathan Rowson SCO GM 2569 Jonathan Hawkins ENG GM 2563 Daniel Fernandez ENG IM 2476 Yang-Fan Zhou ENG IM 2455

England’s number 2, 3, 4 and 6 players - Howell, McShane, Short and Jones - are joined by Scottish number 1, Jonathan Rowson, as well as two of England’s most promising junior players, Daniel Fernandez and Yang-Fan Zhou.

Coincidentally, with Michael Adams participating in the Classic, this means that all the members of the English team from the European Team Championship, just concluded in Reykjavik, will be playing at this year’s London Chess Classic.

You can find the pairings for the tournament below. In the semi finals, the winner of QF 1 will play the winner of QF 4, while the winners of QF 2 and 3 will be facing each other.

Quarter Final 1: David Howell v Yang-Fan Zhou Quarter Final 2: Luke McShane v Daniel Fernandez Quarter Final 3: Nigel Short v Jonathan Hawkins Quarter Final 4: Gawain Jones v Jonathan Rowson

You will yourself get the opportunity to possibly play against these 8 players, as they will all participate in the London Chess Classic Super Rapidplay on 12-13 December.

All details about the format, draw and schedule of this event will be published on a dedicated page on the official London Chess Classic website shortly.

Fiona Steil-Antoni Press Officer Email: [email protected] Website: www.londonchessclassic.com/ Twitter: @LondonChess2015