2012 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival

The 2012 edition of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival marks the 10th anniversary of an event which has grown to become a popular fixture on the chess calendar.

This year's festival runs from 25 January - 2 February and the Masters tournament will feature the strongest field yet with 57 Grandmasters, 11 of which are rated over 2700 Elo.

The format is a 10-round Swiss with a time control of 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 minutes for 20 moves, and finally 15 minutes to finish with a 30 second second increment from the start of the game.  Games start at 15:00 local time (14:00 UTC), except the last round which is at 11:00 (10:00 UTC). The top 70 rated entries are:

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Peter Svidler	Judit Polgar

Alongside the Masters tournament, there are also two Challenger events (for those rated under 2250 Elo) and two Amateur events (under 1800 Elo), all of which are 5-round Swiss competitions. The full schedule looks like this:

The impressive new official website will have live coverage and commentary of the top games in the Masters event, with webcams in the main playing hall and commentary room.

First place in the Masters competition attracts a £20,000 prize, with the top placed woman receiving £10,000. There are also rating category prizes, and a special £5,000 prize to the top placed player from a Commonwealth country, in celebration of the Queen of England's Diamond Jubilee.  Full details of all prizes can be found here.

Also, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Gibraltar Chess Festival, a set of commemorative chess-themed stamps have been issued, each with a specially chosen game from the many thousands of games that have been played during the decade of chess on the Rock.

Follow the 2012 Tradwise Gibraltar Chess Festival action at the official website, or the tournament's Facebook or Twitter pages.