Zurich Chess Challenge 2015

Follow this amazing event in ICC!
All you need to do is three simple and quick steps.

1. Get a FREE Trial account by registering HERE
2. Download our interface HERE
3. Connect to the ICC server and you're READY!

Want to follow the games from your iPhone or iPad? Click HERE and download our iOS app.
Do you have an Android phone or tablet? HERE is the link to download our app.

From February 14 to 18, some of the strongest players in the world meet in Zurich, Switzerland, for the 4th Zurich Chess Challenge.
Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian, Vishy Anand, Vladimir Kramnik and Sergey Karjakin are the golden six.
The tournament is a 5-rounder RR. Short and sweet, it doesn't allow for any mistake, if one wants to win it.
Games start at 9:00AM EST - 15:00 CET.
ICC will be on the air with its dream team, to provide LIVE commentary and, as usual, Game Of the Day video Service.
Tune-in to channel 165! There will be fun contests, and you can win free months of membership and other prizes!

Here you will find Round Reports, Videos, previews and more!
 

Round Reports

Round 1
Nakamura continues his amazing streak, winning a good game with Fabiano Caruana in the first round of this short but tense tournament. Six of the best players in the world are in Zuroch, Switzerland, to replace Magnus Carlsen as holder of the title of this almost-classic event. The two former world champions, anand and Kramnik, drew a quiet game, in a Queen Gambit Declined, positional line with 6.Qc2. Aronian Karjakin was much more a fight over the board, which ended in a draw, but an interesting one. With the strange score - 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw - Nakamura leads solo with 2 points, followed one point behind by everyone else but Caruana. In the live rating list, Nakamura is at his highest with a stunning 2997.6, only 2.4 points shy from becoming one of the few elite players to break the 2800 barrier.



HERE GM Ronen Har-Zvi's video recap.

And this is the LIVE final recap of the round by Mark Crowther and GM Ronen Har-Zvi

 

Round 2
Vishy Anand is back. Today he won a great game vs. Aronian, to join Nakamura on top of the standings after two rounds. With the score system used in Zurich, the two super-GMs now lead together with 3 points out of 4. One point behind Vladimir Kramnik and Sergey Karjakin. Caruana and Aronian close the list with 1 point. Three rounds to go, so nothing is decided yet, and the rest of the tournament promises to be very interesting. Today Hikaru Nakamura had to draw fully from his defending skill to equalize his game against Kramnik, one of the most powerful positional players of all time. Right after the opening - a Neo-Catalan declined in the English scheme - Naka found himself without any initiative, fighting to stay in the game. He managed to play very precisly, to draw a complicated game. Karjakin vs. Caruana was an enthralling game, with the two foes getting close to time control in a time scramble. They played well, despite the clocks ticking away sinisterly, and drew right after the 40th move. An interesting and well fought round!



HERE is GM Lars Bo Hansen's video recap.

And this is the LIVE final recap of the round by IM Christof Sielecki and GM Lars Bo Hansen


Round 3
The highlight of the day is without doubt Nakamura's win over Karjakin, in a "magnificently messy game", as Jon Speelman called it. The victory not only leads Hikaru to stand alone on top of the standings, but - perhaps even more importantly - makes him the 10th player ever to break the 2800 barrier. In the LIVE rating list, Nakamura shows a shiny 2802.5 stellar rating now, and the 4th place in the world. The other two games ended in a draw, with Anand playing pretty well against Caruana, showing he's in good form again. With two rounds to go - the score system used assigns 2 points for a win and one point for a draw - Nakamura sails solo on top with 5 points, followed by a very good Anand with 4, then Kramnik with 3 and Caruana, Aronian and Karjakin with 2.



HERE is GM Jon Speelman's video recap.

In this video GM Fedorowicz goes through Nakamura-Karjakin LIVE, during ICC's broadcast

 

Round 4
It happens that when you prepare for the World Championship (you, in this case, is Anand) in the following tournaments play well, using all the opening preparation that the big match involved. It happened to Gelfand after losing to Anand, and it is happening to Anand, after losing with Carlsen. Today Vishy showed a magnificent preparation, getting a clear advantage and finalizing it into a full point. Well two points, given the score system used in the Classical games. Anand now leads solo, with 6 points, followed by Nakamura with 5, and all the rest of the strong wolves trailing behind. It will be interesting to see if Nakamura can bounce back tomorrow, to win his second tournament in a row.



HERE is GM Joel Benjamin's video recap.

And here is GM Benjamin and GM Dlugy LIVE recap of the round, during the broadcast

 

Round 5
ANAND! Last round finished without changing anything in the standings, with three draws. This makes Anand the winner of the Zurich Classic, with 7 points out ouf 10. Nakamura took second, with 6 points. Then Kramnik third with 5 and Caruana, Aronian and Karjakin with 4. The tiger of Madras still kicks, and he's always a though guest, despite every now and then the chess world seems to decide that he's finished, he's old, he should retire. Anand used his excellent reparation - which comes from the World Championship Match he lost to Carlsen - to play good chess, precise and sometimes brilliant. His win over Nakamura in round 4 was crucial; today, when he saw Nakamura drawing with Aronian, Vishy took the most secure road to draw his game, exchanging Queens and entering a drawish endgame. Congratulations to one of the best chess players ever!



HERE is GM Larry Christiansen's video recap

And here is the LIVE final recap of the round with GMs Smerdon and Christiansen

 

And here is the lineup of our commentators:

Date	Day	Round	Host	Analyst
02/14	Saturday	1	Mark Crowther	GM Ronen Har-Zvi
02/15	Sunday	2	IM Christof Sielecki	GM Lars Bo Hansen
02/16	Monday	3	GM Jon Speelman	GM John Fedorowicz
02/17	Tuesday	4	GM Joel Benjamin	GM Max Dlugy
02/18	Wednesday	5	GM David Smerdon	GM Larry Christiansen