Chess Cities Cup – the first official hybrid tournament

Due to the pandemic, the International Chess Federation launches a new concept: a tournament combining playing online and with a physical board.

CitiesCupPressMalmoLiveVenue
Photo: Maria Eklind, https://flickr.com/mariaeklind

Malmö is one of the cities, and will meet Barcelona, Bratislava and Oslo. The teams gather in their respective venue, with each player in front of an chess board. Moves are automatically transmitted to the opponents, and the players are supervised by cameras and arbiters.

When the Swedish national league was played for the first time 1950, long distant matches were allowed to be played by phone. It is time again!

Chess Cities Cup

20-21 February on Malmö Live (photo).
Spectators can follow the games and listen to the commentator online: www.tepesigemanchess.com Saturday 10:00 and 16:00, Sunday 11:00.
Contact: Johan Berntsen, 040-15 03 88, msf@telia.com.

 Malmö(Tepe Sigeman Chess)

  1. GM Tiger Hillarp Persson (photo)
  2. IM Jesper Hall
  3. GM Axel Smith
  4. IM Björn Ahlander
  5. GM Stellan Brynell
  6.  Joel Eklund
  7.  Johan Sigeman

* GM = Grand master.
* IM = International master.
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Tiger Hillarp (right) plays first board for Malmö. Photo from the same venue at Tepe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2019.

The starting field of the 2021 Tepe Sigeman Chess Tournament is now complete!

The starting field is an interesting mix of legends, young stars on the rise and top players:

  • GM Anatoly Karpov, Russia, World Champion 1975-1985 and 1993-1999
  • GM Nils Grandelius, Sweden, number one on the Swedish rating list
  • GM Alexei Shirov , Spain, former World Championship challenger
  • GM David Navara, Czech Republic, one of the strongest chess players in Europe
  • GM Liêm Quang Lê, Vietnam, the current Asian champion
  • GM Harika Dronavalli. India, one of the world’s strongest female players
  • GM Jorden Van Foreest, the Netherlands, winner of the 2021 Tata Steel Chess Tournament
  • GM Nihal Sarin, India, a chess prodigy who, at 14, became India’s youngest grandmaster

The tournament will offer live commentary by GM Ivan Sokolov and GM Stellan Brynell.

Anatoly Karpov to play the 2020 Tepe Sigeman Chess Tournament

Mr Karpov together with one of the main sponsors, Mr Johan Sigeman

Anatoly Karpov was Chess World Champion 1975-1985 and 1993-1999. He played five World Championship matches against another legend, Garry Kasparov, matches that many think were the best World Championship matches ever. Throughout his career, Karpov has won more than 150 top level tournaments and he is widely considered one of the greatest chess players ever.

In the last decade, Karpov has mainly played in the Bundesliga and in other team competitions, and some rapid chess. This will be the first time in 10 years that he plays at top level round-robin tournament!

The 26th edition of the Tepe Sigeman Chess Tournament will be played April 29-May 5 2020 at the Malmo Live conference center in Malmo, Sweden. Eight players will play seven rounds and among others, Karpov will face Swedish number one Nils Grandelius, former World Championship challenger Alexei Shirov, Czech number one David Navara and Indian chess prodigy Nihal Sarin.

The full starting field will be announced soon!

Johan Berntsen
Director, TePe Sigeman Chess
++46 709317574

TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2020

The next Tepe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament will be played 29 April – 5 May
2020. 8 players will play 7 rounds at Malmo Live.