(December 2008, hotel Cristal Palace, Marianske Lazne)
Chess legends (Karpov, Hort, Olafsson, Uhlmann) won in the dramatic double-round scheveningen match against promising women grandmasters (Cmilyte, Ushenina, Nemcova, Jackova) 17,5 : 14,5. There were also the simul of GM Marek Vokac and the blitz tournament, that was won by co-owner of Ingem company IM Jan Michalek.
GM Vladimir Kramnik, the world best chess player, will arrive in May this year to Prague in order to compete with the best Czech chess player David Navara in eight game rapid chess match. The match will be part of the chess festival ČEZ CHESS TROPHY 2008, which is organised by Prague Chess Society. This year attendance of the extraordinary competitors should highlight centennial anniversary of holding the first Prague International Chess Tournament. Grandmaster Kramnik, had been world chess champion from 2000 to 2007 and as per 1st January 2008 he was the world number one at ELO chart, which is held by International Chess Federation FIDE.
“I am very pleased, that we have managed to arrange this match and that Czech chess players will be able to see the world number one chess player. Considering that Grandmaster Kramnik is to compete for the world champion title with Grandmaster Anand this coming October, the Prague match is going to show to which extend is Grandmaster Navara able to compete with the world top players,” says Pavel Matocha, the president of Prague Chess Society.
The match will be taking place from 14th till 18th May at Kampa in Prague. Each day two games will be played, with the exception of Fri 16th of May, when the simul of Grandmaster Kramnik will be performed. First game is to start at 5 p.m. and second at 6:15 p.m. each day. The audience is, however, invited to visit Michnuv palác and BW Kampa Hotel every day from 4 p.m., to listen to lectures of Grandmasters or to attend opening of an exhibition. Grandmaster Lubomir Kavalek will be commenting each game for the audience.
Tickets for the chess festival will be for sale from 5th May at the BW Kampa Hotel reception (Všehrdova 16, Praha 1). Alternatively, tickets can be reserved at the e-mail address marketa.cejkova@gmail.com and to be collected at the day of the event (by 3:45 p.m. at the latest). The ticket costs 40 CZK, children, students and senior citizens pay half.