The Zurich Challenge 2014  is the first tournament in the history of chess to reach category 23 with an amazing average rating of 2801. The line-up is just impressive: World Champion and Numero Uno Magnus Carlsen; Number Two and recent winner of the Tata Steel Tournament Levon Aronian; U.S. #1 and World #3 Hikaru Nakamura; Italian superstar Fabiano Caruana; Israeli uber-strong GM Boris Gelfand and, last but not least, former World Champion Vishy Anand. It sounds like a dream to have all these chess-stars together in the same event. There are so many reasons to be excited about this Round Robin 5-rounder dream event: it is the first time that Magnus and Vishy play in a tournament after the World Championship Match; Levon Aronian has just shown his immense class at the Tata Steel Tournament, sending a clear message to the top players; Gelfand who can beat anyone as he has shown in his long career; Caruana and Nakamura seeking for success after a somewhat disappointing performance in Wijk aan Zee; and, of course, the most asked question in the world chess: will Magnus get close to the mythical threshold of 2900? ICC will follow this fantastic event with LIVE Broadcast, Game OF the Day videos and TRIVIA. LIVE the Zurich Challenge 2014 in ICC!  

Magnus did not get close to 2900, but he did get close to his best rating ever! Winning the classic tournament the Norwegian chess genius is not 2881.2. He actually achieved his highest live rating ever during Zurich, on February the 2nd, when it was 2882.6, after Magnus' victory over Hikaru Nakamura. In the last round Carlsen drew former World Champion Vishy anand, and lost that little point in the live rating list. Congratulations to Magnus Carlsen! Broadcast Schedule

 

January            Feburary Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon 30 31 1 2 3

Have you missed one or more Broadcasts? No worries! ICC has all of them ready for you!

GAME OF THE DAY 1 Jan 30   GM Larry Christiansen   LarryC 2 Jan 31   GM Alex Yermolinsky   Sweere 3 Feb 01   GM Lars Bo Hansen   Doncorleone 4 Feb 02   GM Alex Yermolinsky   Sweere 5 Feb 03   GM Joel Benjamin   MrHat TRIVIA WINNERS 1 Jan 30 Defibaugh izit mstefa 2 Jan 31 Activekids Activekids esveesa 3 Feb 01 agent-n053 Alexei allanbeard 4 Feb 02 agent-n053 TheChessKid PawnGrabber 5 Feb 03 agent-n053 TheEye SlimeDog2