Donostia Chess Festival

Ten of the best players of the world will play the “San Sebastian European Cultural City 2016″ a XVIII category tournament where, among others, 3 former World Chess Champions will play: Anatoly Karpov (WC between 1975 and 1085 and 1993 and 1999), Ruslan Ponomariom (2002-2004) and Rustam Kasimdzhanov (2004-2005). This tournament has an average FIDE rating of 2682.

The tournament will be sponsored by the office which is promoting San Sebastian to be the European Cultural City in 2016.

ANATOLY KARPOV

• 2644
• Born 1951/5/23 in Zlatoust, Rusia
• World Champion from 1975 to 1985
• FIDE World Champion from 1993 to 1999

RUSLAM PONOMARIOV

• 2727
• Born 1983/10/11 in Horlivka, Ukrania
• U18 World Championampeón when he was 14
• Olympic Champion in 2001
• FIDE World Champion in 2002

RUSTAM KASIMDZHANOV

• 2672
• Born 1979/12/5 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan
• Asian Champion in 1998
• Bronce medal in 2000 with Uzbekistan
• FIDE World Champion in 2004

SERGEI MOVSESIAN

SERGEI MOVSESIAN

• 2716
• Born 1976/11/3 in Tbilisi, Georgia
• His parents were armenian, now he plays for Slovakia
• In 1999 he played quarter-finals in the FIDE World Championships
• Winner of Sarajevo (2002 and 2007), Chigorin Memorial (2007) and Corus B (2008) Tournaments

PETER SVIDLER

• 2739
• Born 1976/6/17 in Leningrad, Russia
• Russian Champion in 1994, 1995, 1997, 2003 and 2008)
• He played semi-finals of the FIDE World Championships in 2001

MAXIME VACHIER LAGRAVE

• 2703
• Born in 1990 in Nogent sur Marne, France
• Gran Master when he was 14 years and 4 months
• U8, U10, U12 and U16 French Champion
• U20 French Champion when he was 14
• French Champion in 2007

HIKARU NAKAMURA

• 2710
• Born in 1987 in Hirakata Japon
• His family went to the USA when he was 2
• Current US Champion
• Bronce medal with the US Team in Torino Olympiad

FRANCISCO VALLEJO

• 2693
• Born in 1982 in Es Castell, Menorca
• Spanish youngest Gran Master when he was 16
• Spanish Champion in 2006
• He was 2nd in European U20 and World U18 Champion in 2000

JULIO GRANDA ZUÑIGA

• 2647
• 1967/2/25 Camana, Peru
• Peru Champion in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2002
• American Champion in 2007

PABLO SAN SEGUNDO CARRILLO

• 2570
• Born 1979 in Madrid
• Spanish Junior Champion in 1986
• Spanish Champion in 1997