The 2017 Kortchnoi Zurich Chess Challenge will start on 12 April in the Hotel Savoy Baur en Ville with an impressive opening ceremony that is highlighted by a musical performance of four superb musicians:
Ilya Gringolts, one of the most inspirational violinists today, Boris Adrianov, a multiple international prize winner for his amazing cellist talents, Dmitry Illarionov, probably the most talented guitarists of modern Russia, and Leonard Schreiber, a Belgian violinist with a reputation of being a preeminent soloist, who has had the honour to play for several Heads of States and Royalties even in private concerts. The audience in the Savoy can therefore expect a musical performance of an outstanding artistic value.
In addition, the opening ceremony will welcome the 12th World Chess Champion and chess legend Anatoli Karpov, the 1993 Vice World Champion Jan Timman, the Russian/Dutch Grandmaster Gennadi Sosonko, who was, like Karpov and Timman, a long-time rival and competitor of Viktor Kortchnoi, plus several other honorable guests well-known throughout the chess world and beyond.
The ceremony will be followed by a round robin Blitz tournament of the 8 participants of the Grandmaster tournament. The entire event can be followed in a livestream that will be shown on the tournament website, www.zurich-cc.com
The hosts are also happy to announce, that to date 13 grandmasters with an ELO rating of 2600 and above have registered for the Kortchnoi Open that will be played parallel to the Grandmaster Tournament. Among them are well-known world class players like Alexei Shirov, Alexander Motylev, Eltaj Safarli, Eduardo Iturrizaga, Aleksandr Rakhmanov and Loek van Wely.
