The Bilbao Chess Grand Slam Masters Final 2016 will take place between the 20th and 30th July, its organizing committee has announced today. And they have announced a strong lineup including both Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand (stay tuned for full participants list later today on Chessdom.com)
The ninth edition of Masters Final has been brought forward from its usual date in the calendar of the most important international chess events, making way for November’s clash in the individual World Championship between the current champion, Magnus Carlsen, and the winner of the Candidates Tournament which will begin on the 11th March in Moscow. Thus, the Bilbao Final Masters 2016 will take place from 20 to 30 July.
As well as the earlier staging of the event, the Bilbao Masters Final 2016 also has other changes, such as the return to its traditional format of six competitors.
The organizers of what is now one of the most prestigious tournaments in the chess calendar are currently finalizing the participation of six of the top ten world grand masters. In fact both Carlsen from Norway and Viswanathan Anand from India – current world champion and runner up respectively – have committed themselves to participating. Update 1: Along with them, Hikaru Nakamura from the United States has also confirmed his presence in this prestigious tournament in Bilbao.