The 2014 GRENKE Chess Classic

The 2nd edition of the GRENKE Chess Classic takes place in Baden-Baden from the 6th to the 17th September 2014. This year's event features eight top German players, including the full German Olympiad team of Naiditsch, Nisipeanu, Meier, Fridman and Baramidze. The top prize is not money but two coveted places in the 2015 GRENKE Chess Classic, which will once again be an international supertournament. chess24 is the official broadcast partner of this year's event.

After the successful debut of the 2013 GRENKE Chess Classic the decision was taken to hold a grandmaster tournament in 2014 as well, organised by OSG (Ooser Chess Club) 1922 with the support of the German Chess Federation. This year's event functions as a qualifier for the best German players to earn a place in the 2015 GRENKE Chess Classic, which will, like the first edition won by Viswanathan Anand, feature top international players.

The 2013 GRENKE Chess Classic, which featured three German players alongside World Champion Viswanathan Anand, Fabiano Caruana and Michael Adams | photo: Georgios Souleidis

The grandmaster tournament features eight players. Arkadij Naiditsch, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and Georg Meier - as the top 3 rated German players - will be the favourites, but Daniel Fridman will also be in the hunt for the two starting places at the 2015 GRENKE Chess Classic.

David Baramidze and Philipp Schlosser will have an outside chance of challenging, while for teenagers Matthias Bluebaum and Dennis Wagner the aim will be to gather top-level experience to further their young careers. The two German hopes have received support from the German Chess Federation for a "chess year" in which they can fully focus on the development of their chess careers.

2014 GRENKE Chess Classic line-up (with September 1st 2014 ratings)

1. GM Arkadij Naiditsch (2715)
2. GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (2672)
3. GM Georg Meier (2652)
4. GM Daniel Fridman (2633)
5. GM David Baramidze (2599)
6. GM Philipp Schlosser (2582)
7. IM Matthias Blübaum (2521)
8. IM Dennis Wagner (2499)
   

As in 2013 chess24 is again working together with the organisers to provide the official website (this year only in German). 

Naiditsch and Meier will again lock swords | photo: Georgios Souleidis

The most important details:

• All the games will be broadcast live using the chess24 system! 
• A round will be played each day from Saturday 6th September until Friday 12th September (no rest days)
• The first five rounds start at 14:00 CET, while the last two rounds begin at 10:00 
• The venue is the Chess Centre in Kulturhaus LA8 in the German spa town of Baden-Baden
• German live commentary by GM Klaus Bischoff is planned

Useful links:

• Live broadcast of the games on chess24
• Official 2014 GRENKE Chess Classic website (in German)
• Official OSG Baden-Baden website (in German)