Who's Who in Chess at the End of 2007

Who's Who in Chess at the End of 2007

At the end every year we update our reference pages to include notable events of the preceding year. One of the most striking aspects of 2007 was the large number of tournaments classed at category 17 or higher.

Famous Chess Tournaments: Not counting the World Championship in Mexico City, which was a category 21 event, we identified 15 high octane, super grandmaster tournaments. This compares with 8 in 2005 and 12 in 2006. Are we in a bull market for chess tournaments?

Elsewhere on the Web : 2007 Chess Blog Awards

No, we're not handing out any awards here. Like other long time denizens of the Internet, we know that most Web awards are no more than a crude swindle to coax a banner and a link out of a hard working, unsuspecting Web hobbyist. Having said that, yearend is the time for reflection over the preceding year. In 2007, we spent an inordinate amount of time reading and writing about the chess blogs, so it seems fitting to summarize that activity with one final post on the year recently ended.

2008 Corus Wijk aan Zee

The 2008 super tournaments kick off this weekend with the 9th Corus tournament at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. The event will be the 70th at Wijk aan Zee in the long history that started in 1938. Seven of the world's top 10 players, including GM Viswanathan Anand, GM Vladimir Kramnik (both tied for the no.1-2 ranking), and GM Veselin Topalov (no.3), meet in this year's 14-player, single round robin, category 20 (average rating 2742) event.
The first round will be played on 12 January, the last on 27 January, with free days on 16, 21, and 24 January. The big Anand - Kramnik showdown will be played in the last round, and could easily be the game that determines first place. The Anand - Topalov game and the Topalov - Kramnik grudge match will be played in rounds 8 and 9.