Pearl Spring chess tournament

The Pearl Spring Chess Tournament (simplified Chinese: 中国（南京）国际象棋超级大赛; traditional Chinese: 中國（南京）國際象棋超級大賽; pinyin: Zhōngguó（Nánjīng）guójì xiàngqí chāojí dà sài) was a double round robin chess tournament event featuring six super-GM players that took place in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. The first edition in December 2008 was won by Veselin Topalov. According to ChessVibes website, Silvio Danailov - the manager and coach of Topalov - said the Pearl Spring tournament has been "guaranteed for five years and will enter in Grand Slam [in 2009]."^[1][2] The second and third tournaments in 2009 and 2010 were both won by Magnus Carlsen, with his first win being rated as one of the best performances in chess history.^[3]

Together with Corus Chess Tournament in the Netherlands, Linares Chess Tournament in Spain, M-Tel Masters in Bulgaria, and Grand Slam Masters Final in Spain, Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament became one of the five Grand Slam Tournaments in the world. It was the first in Asia and the only one in China.^[4]

Venue

The tournament was named after the venue, the Mingfa Pearl Spring Hotel located in Pukou District of Nanjing.

Organization

The tournament was organized by the Municipal People's Government of Nanjing and Chess & Cards Administration Center of General Administration of Sport of China, and the People's Government of Pukou District, Nanjing, and Nanjing Administration of Sport

• Tournament Director: Wang Yonghong
• Chief arbiter: Casto Abundo
• Arbiters: Tang Jianming, Feng Zhe, Zhang Jilin

The organization web site did not disclose the player invitation criteria or protocol. In each of the first three years, one participant was of Chinese nationality.

Sponsorship

The tournament was sponsored by Jiangsu Kanion Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Yangzi Evening News, and Mundell International University of Entrepreneurship. The total prize fund was €250,000 with a first prize of €80,000.

Support

The tournament has received support from FIDE, the European Chess Union (ECU) and the Asian Chess Federation.

Guests

Guests invited to the opening ceremony included Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, President of the World Chess Federation; Boris Kutin, President of ECU; Sheikh Sultan, President of ACU and Liang Zhirong, Secretary-General of FIDE, Xu Jialu, Vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and Nobel Prize winner, Robert A. Mundell.

Results

2008

10-22 December

The six players were Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria (Elo rating 2791, ranked first in the world); Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine (Elo rating 2786, ranked third in the world); Levon Aronian of Armenia (Elo rating 2757, ranked seventh in the world); Sergei Movsesian of Slovakia (Elo rating 2732, ranked thirteenth in the world); Peter Svidler of Russia (Elo rating 2727, ranked seventeenth in the world); Bu Xiangzhi of China (Elo rating 2714, ranked twenty-sixth in the world). With at least an Elo rating average of 2751.6, it was a category 21 tournament making it the strongest chess tournament ever held in China.

1st Pearl Spring, 11–21 December 2008, Nanjing, China, Category XXI (2751)^[5]

	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points	TPR	Place
1	Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)	2791		½ 1	½ ½	1 1	½ 1	½ ½	7	2892	1
2	Levon Aronian (Armenia)	2757	½ 0	Does not appear	½ ½	½ ½	1 1	½ ½	5½	2786	2
3	Bu Xiangzhi (China)	2714	½ ½	½ ½	Does not appear	½ 0	½ 0	1 1	5	2758	3
4	Peter Svidler (Russia)	2727	0 0	½ ½	½ 1	Does not appear	½ ½	0 1	4½	2720	4
5	Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)	2786	½ 0	0 0	½ 1	½ ½	Does not appear	½ ½	4	2672	5–6
6	Sergei Movsesian (Slovakia)	2732	½ ½	½ ½	0 0	1 0	½ ½	Does not appear	4	2683	5–6

2009

September 27 - October 9 (Category 21, 2764)

First tournament of the Grand Slam series 2009-2010.

2nd Pearl Spring, 28 September – 9 October 2009, Nanjing, China, Category XXI (2764)^[6]

	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points	SB	TPR
1	Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	2772		1 ½	½ 1	1 ½	1 ½	1 1	8		3002
2	Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)	2813	0 ½	Does not appear	½ ½	½ ½	½ 1	½ 1	5½		2789
3	Wang Yue (China)	2736	½ 0	½ ½	Does not appear	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	4½		2733
4	Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan)	2757	0 ½	½ ½	½ ½	Does not appear	½ ½	½ 0	4	20.00	2693
5	Peter Leko (Hungary)	2762	0 ½	½ 0	½ ½	½ ½	Does not appear	½ ½	4	19.25	2692
6	Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia)	2742	0 0	½ 0	½ ½	½ 1	½ ½	Does not appear	4	17.25	2696

2010

The 3rd edition of the tournament took place from October 19 to October 30; with at least an Elo rating average of 2766, it was a category 21 tournament.^[7]

3rd Pearl Spring, 20–30 October 2010, Nanjing, China, Category XXI (2766)^[8]

	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points	SB	TPR
1	Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	2826		½ ½	1 ½	½ ½	1 1	1 ½	7		2903
2	Viswanathan Anand (India)	2800	½ ½	Does not appear	0 1	½ ½	1 ½	½ 1	6		2831
3	Étienne Bacrot (France)	2716	0 ½	1 0	Does not appear	1 ½	½ 0	1 ½	5		2776
4	Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan)	2719	½ ½	½ ½	0 ½	Does not appear	½ ½	½ ½	4½	23.00	2739
5	Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)	2803	0 0	0 ½	½ 1	½ ½	Does not appear	½ 1	4½	19.50	2722
6	Wang Yue (China)	2732	0 ½	½ 0	0 ½	½ ½	½ 0	Does not appear	3		2623

See also

• List of strong chess tournaments
• Grand Slam Chess Association
• Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting
• Association of Chess Professionals
• Chess around the world
• FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2009

References

1. . ChessVibes. Archived from the original on 2009-04-16. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
2. "Nanjing Enters Grand Slam Association". Chessdom. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
3. "Facts and figures: Magnus Carlsen's performance in Nanjing". ChessBase. 12 October 2009. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
4. "Nanjing 2014 YOG - Athletes, Medals & Results". 4 October 2018.
5. Mark Crowther (22 December 2008). "The Week in Chess 737". The Week in Chess.
6. Mark Crowther (12 October 2009). "The Week in Chess 779". The Week in Chess.
7. [1]^{[permanent dead link]}
8. Mark Crowther (1 November 2010). "The Week in Chess 834". The Week in Chess.

• Pearl Spring Super Tournament 2008-12-11 at the Wayback Machine - more information from FIDE

External links

• Official website
• ChessBase Reports for 2008, 2009
• Pictures of the Pearl Spring Chess Tournament