Zurich Chess Challenge - 205 years of chess history

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Watch live chess
Zurich Chess Challenge 2014 live at ChessBomb with computer analysis.

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This year's Zurich Chess Challenge starts on 29th January 2014 and has a record average rating of 2801!

One of the top chess tournaments worldwide at present, Zurich Chess Challenge Tournament has a long history dating back to 1809, when the Schachgesellschaft Zürich was first founded, which makes it the oldest chess club in the world. The founders were Sigmund Spöndli (the State cashier of Zurich), Leonhard Ziegler (a paper manufacturer), Johann Escher (a grocer) and the three painters Heinrich Maurer, Carl Schulthess and Heinrich Schulthess.

In the 20th century the Schachgesellschaft Zürich gained popularity with its international tournaments, especially after the end of World War II.

The 125-year-jubilee tournament of the Schachgesellschaft Zürich in 1934 was won by the World Champion Alexander Alekhine.

The 150th anniversary in 1959 was won by MIhail Tal.

1.	John Nunn	6.0
2.	Viktor Korchnoi	5.5
	Yasser Seirawan	5.5
	Florin Gheorghiu	5.5
	Juan Bellón López	5.5
	Gennadi Sosonko	5.5
	Boris Spassky	5.5
8.	Vlastimil Hort	5.0
	Stefan Kindermann	5.0

The 175th anniversary in 1984 was celebrated with an invitational tournament, featuring 8 Swiss players and 14 foreigners, including the World champion Boris Spassky. The surprise winner was GM John Nunn.

#	Ti.	Player	Rtng	FED	Pts.	BH
1	GM	Areshchenko Alexander	2651	UKR	7½	50
2	GM	Avrukh Boris	2641	ISR	7½	47
3	GM	Dreev Alexey	2660	RUS	7	50
4	GM	Mikhalevski Victor	2631	ISR	7	48
5	GM	Morozevich Alexander	2751	RUS	6½	51½
6	GM	Kuzubov Yuriy	2635	UKR	6½	50
7	GM	Sutovsky Emil	2675	ISR	6½	49
	GM	Golod Vitali	2599	ISR	6½	49
9	GM	Meier Georg	2658	GER	6½	48
10	GM	Pelletier Yannick	2574	SUI	6½	47½
	GM	Hess Robert L.	2560	USA	6½	47½
12	GM	Sandipan Chanda	2585	IND	6½	47
	GM	Geetha Narayanan Gopal	2575	IND	6½	47
	GM	Bosiocic Marin	2551	CRO	6½	47
15	GM	Gharamian Tigran	2615	FRA	6½	46½
16	GM	Fridman Daniel	2665	GER	6½	45
17	GM	Miroshnichenko Evgenij	2696	UKR	6½	44½
	GM	Hou Yifan	2584	CHN	6½	44½
	GM	Bischoff Klaus	2551	GER	6½	44½
20	GM	Bauer Christian	2602	FRA	6½	44
21	IM	Bromberger Stefan	2510	GER	6½	42½
22	IM	Hirneise Tobias	2429	GER	6½	40½
23	GM	Ivanisevic Ivan	2629	SRB	6½	36

In 2009 Zurich Chess Challenge celebrated its 200th Anniversary. The winner of the Open tournament was GM Alexander Areshchenko. The event also featured a Champions Simultan against a World Chess Champion: Viswanathan Anand, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Viktor Korchnoi, Vladimir Kramnik, Boris Spassky, Ruslan Ponomariov, Veselin Topalov – each of these players had simultans with 25 selected amateurs players.

The Schachgesellschaft Zürich has seen almost all the most famous players, including the World champions Lasker, Alekhine, Euwe, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov and Kramnik, and many other exceptional players from the newer generations.

Series of articles on the Schachgesellschaft Zürich's history:
Part I (1809-1914) 
Part II (1914-1945) 
Part III (1945-1961) 
Part IV (1975-to the present)

You can see games from Zurich Chess Challenge 2013 with computer analysis at ChessBomb (won by GM Fabiano Caruana).

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Watch live Zurich Chess Challenge 2014 live at ChessBomb with computer analysis.

Official page: Zurich Chess Challenge

Regular updates are also posted on Twitter and Facebook.

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