Melody Amber
The Amber Tournament (officially: Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament , previously: Melody Amber ) was a chess tournament in which the participants, who usually belonged to the world's best, were determined exclusively by invitation. The tournament was founded in 1992 and sponsored annually until 2011 by the Dutch two-time correspondence chess world champion , entrepreneur and billiards and chess patron Joop van Oosterom . It is named after his first daughter, and he dedicated the Crystal Kelly tournament to his second daughter , a highly endowed and prestigious carom tournament in the three- cushion discipline . It took place from 1994 to 2011.
The opponents in the Melody Amber competed against each other in two disciplines: in the first event in rapid chess and in blitz chess , from the second edition in 1993 the second discipline was a rapid variant of blind chess .
From 1992, the year of birth of the eponymous daughter, until 2007 it took place annually in a luxury hotel in Monte Carlo and mostly in the second half of March. From 2008 to 2010 the tournament took place in the Hotel Palais de la Mediterranee in Nice . The 20th and final edition of the tournament was again held in Monaco at the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort . The overall winner of the tournament was the player with the most points from both disciplines; In addition, there was also prize money for the winners of the individual disciplines.
One game of rapid chess and one game of blind chess were played each day, against the same opponent with switched colors. Not only the rapid chess, but also the blind games were played in rapid chess mode; Each player had 25 minutes per game plus 10 seconds credit for rapid chess and 20 seconds credit for blind chess for each move made.
While the rapid chess game and then the blind game were played first in 1993 and 1994, the game has been played in the reverse order since 1995 due to the fatigue associated with a high error rate in blind chess.
As a rapid and blind chess tournament, it was not evaluated by FIDE for the Elo number of the world rankings.
The most successful player at the Amber tournament was Wladimir Kramnik , who won the tournament six times.
Tournament winner
Participant lists
9. Amber 2000
held from March 16 to 28, 2000
- Anatoly Karpov
- Alexei Schirow, rapid chess and overall winner
- Vasyl Ivanchuk
- Boris Gelfand
- Wesselin Topalow
- Wladimir Kramnik, blind chess winner
- Jeroen Piket
- Loek van Wely
- Ljubomir Ljubojević
- Viswanathan Anand
- Predrag Nikolić
- Joël Lautier
10. Amber 2001
held from March 17th to 29th, 2001
- Alexei Shirov
- Péter Lékó
- Vasyl Ivanchuk
- Boris Gelfand, shared rapid chess winner
- Wesselin Topalow, blind chess and shared overall winner
- Wladimir Kramnik, shared rapid chess and shared overall winner
- Zoltán Almási
- Jeroen Piket
- Loek van Wely
- Ljubomir Ljubojević
- Viswanathan Anand
- Anatoly Karpov
11. Amber 2002
held from March 16 to 28, 2002
- Alexander Morosewitsch, blind chess winner and overall winner
- Alexei Shirov
- Péter Lékó
- Vasyl Ivanchuk
- Boris Gelfand, rapid chess winner
- Wesselin Topalow
- Yevgeny Bareev
- Vladimir Kramnik
- Zoltán Almási
- Jeroen Piket
- Loek van Wely
- Ljubomir Ljubojević
12. Amber 2003
held from March 15 to 27, 2003
- Viswanathan Anand, overall winner
- Alexander Morozevich
- Alexei Shirov
- Péter Lékó
- Vasyl Ivanchuk
- Boris Gelfand
- Wesselin Topalow
- Yevgeny Bareev, rapid chess winner
- Wladimir Kramnik, blind chess winner
- Zoltán Almási
- Loek van Wely
- Ljubomir Ljubojević
13. Amber 2004
held from March 20 to April 1, 2004 Prize fund: € 193,250
- Viswanathan Anand
- Evgeny Bareev
- Boris Gelfand
- Vasyl Ivanchuk
- Wladimir Kramnik, shared overall, rapid and blind chess winner
- Péter Lékó
- Alexander Morosewitsch, shared overall, rapid and blind chess winner
- Alexei Shirov
- Peter Swidler
- Wesselin Topalow
- Francisco Vallejo Pons
- Loek Van Wely
14th Amber 2005
held from March 19 to March 31 Prize fund: € 193,250
- Viswanathan Anand, overall, blind and rapid chess winner
- Evgeny Bareev
- Boris Gelfand
- Vasyl Ivanchuk
- Vladimir Kramnik
- Péter Lékó
- Alexander Morozevich
- Alexei Shirov
- Peter Swidler
- Wesselin Topalow
- Francisco Vallejo Pons
- Loek Van Wely
15th Amber 2006
(former world ranking position in brackets)
- Wesselin Topalow (2)
- Viswanathan Anand (3), rapid chess winner and shared overall winner
- Peter Swidler (4)
- Levon Aronjan (5)
- Péter Lékó (7)
- Vasyl Ivanchuk (8)
- Boris Gelfand (9)
- Alexander Morosewitsch (11), blind chess winner and shared overall winner
- Alexander Grishchuk (12)
- Francisco Vallejo Pons (54)
- Vladimir Kramnik (59)
- Peter Heine Nielsen (66)
16. Amber 2007
(former world ranking position in brackets)
- Viswanathan Anand (2), rapid chess winner and runner-up overall
- Wladimir Kramnik (3), blind chess winner and overall winner
- Vasyl Ivanchuk (5)
- Péter Lékó (6)
- Levon Aronjan (7)
- Alexander Morozevich (8)
- Boris Gelfand (10)
- Teymur Rəcəbov (11)
- Peter Swidler (12)
- Magnus Carlsen (24)
- Loek van Wely (26)
- Francisco Vallejo Pons (29)
17th Amber 2008
held from March 15 to 27, 2008
(former world ranking position in brackets)
- Wladimir Kramnik (1), shared blind chess winner
- Viswanathan Anand (2)
- Wesselin Topalow (3), shared blind chess winner
- Alexander Morosewitsch (4), shared blind chess winner
- Şəhriyar Məmmədyarov (6)
- Péter Lékó (8)
- Vasyl Ivanchuk (9)
- Lewon Aronjan (10), rapid chess and overall winner, shared blind chess winner
- Boris Gelfand (11)
- Magnus Carlsen (13)
- Serhiy Karjakin (14)
- Loek van Wely (35)
18th Amber 2009
held from March 14th to 26th, 2009
(former world ranking position in brackets)
- Wesselin Topalow (1)
- Viswanathan Anand (2), shared rapid chess winner
- Vasyl Ivanchuk (3)
- Magnus Carlsen (4), shared blind chess winner
- Alexander Morozevich (5)
- Teymur Rəcəbov (6)
- Wladimir Kramnik (8), shared blind chess winner
- Péter Lékó (9)
- Lewon Aronjan (11), overall winner, shared blind and rapid chess winner
- Wang Yue (13)
- Gata Kamsky (17), shared rapid chess winner
- Serhiy Karjakin (27)
19th Amber 2010
held from March 13th to 25th, 2010
(World ranking position in brackets)
- Magnus Carlsen (1), shared overall winner and shared rapid chess winner
- Vladimir Kramnik (3)
- Levon Aronjan (5)
- Alexander Grishchuk (7), blind chess winner
- Peter Swidler (8)
- Boris Gelfand (9)
- Wassyl Iwantschuk (11), shared overall winner and shared rapid chess winner
- Vugar Gashimov (12)
- Ruslan Ponomarev (15)
- Serhiy Karjakin (21)
- Leinier Domínguez (27)
- Jan Smeets (87)
Originally, Alexander Morosewitsch was planned as a participant, he was replaced by Alexander Grishchuk after a short-term cancellation. The tournament's prize fund was EUR 216,000.
20th Amber 2011
held from March 11th to 24th, 2011
(World ranking position in brackets)
- Viswanathan Anand (1)
- Magnus Carlsen (2), rapid chess winner
- Levon Aronian (3), blind chess winner and overall winner
- Vladimir Kramnik (4)
- Vasily Ivanchuk (5)
- Sergey Karjakin (6)
- Veselin Topalov (7)
- Hikaru Nakamura (8)
- Alexander Grishchuk (10)
- Vugar Gashimov (11)
- Boris Gelfand (16)
- Anish Giri (43)
The tournament's prize fund was 227,000 euros.
Individual evidence
- ↑ At the NH Chess Tournament , also held annually by Joop van Oosterom from 2007 to 2010 , the special prize was awarded that the best player of the so-called Rising Stars Team , if he scores more than 50 percent of the points, qualifies for the next Amber Melody ' '. Serhij Karjakin succeeded in doing this in 2007 , Wang Yue in 2008 , Jan Smeets in 2009 and Hikaru Nakamura in 2010 .
- ↑ The premiere in 1992 was in the Vista Palace , where - due to renovation work in the Metropole Palace , which served as the venue from 1993 to 2002 - the 12th edition was held in 2003 (see Tischbierek 2003, p. 17). From 2004 to 2006 the tournament was held at the Monte Carlo Grand Hotel , while the 16th edition in 2007 was held at the Fairmont Monte Carlo Hotel .
- ↑ Amber Chess - General Info , accessed July 2, 2015.
- ↑ Not all participants welcomed this change; Wladimir Kramnik , Alexei Schirow and Ljubomir Ljubojević supported the old regulation (see van der Wiel 2005, p. 27).
Tournament books
- Melody Amber Rapid Chess Tournament , Schaaknieuws, ISBN 90-73216-08-7 .
- Guido den Broeder and Fred van der Vliet: Second Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess Tournament , Magnana Mu Publishing & Research, ISBN 90-5518-103-X .
- Guido den Broeder and John van der Wiel : Third Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess Tournament , Magnana Mu Publishing & Research, ISBN 90-5518-104-8 .
- Guido den Broeder and John van der Wiel: Fourth Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess Tournament , Magnana Mu Publishing & Research, ISBN 90-5518-105-6 .
- Guido den Broeder and John Nunn : Fifth Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess Tournament , Magnana Mu Publishing & Research, ISBN 90-5518-106-4 .
- Dagobert Kohlmeyer and John Nunn: Chess Roulette in Monte Carlo. 6th Amber Chess Tournament , Bock & Kübler, 1997, ISBN 3-86155-085-7 .
- Dagobert Kohlmeyer and John Nunn, Chess Rallye in Monte Carlo 98. 7th Amber Chess Tournament , Bock & Kübler, 1998, ISBN 3-86155-094-6 .
literature
- oA: A new name on the winner's cup. Alexander Morosewitsch wins the 11th Melody Amber tournament (tournament report), in: Schach-Magazin 64 , 7, 2002, pp. 176–178.
- oA: Anand was the most versatile. 12. Melody Amber tournament in Monaco: Kramnik wins the blind chess competition, Barejew the rapid chess tournament , Anand best overall (tournament report), in: Schach-Magazin 64 , 2003, No. 7, pp. 191–192.
- oA: Aronian, the 'combination king of Nice'. Melody Amber world-class comparison in blind and rapid chess (tournament report), in: Schach-Magazin 64 , 5, 2008, pp. 13-15.
- Mark Crowther: "The Eighth Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament", in: The Week in Chess , No. 229 of March 29, 1999, London: The London Chess Center [1]
- Anna Dergatschowa: Start-finish victory for Vishy Anand (tournament report ), in: Schach , 2005, No. 5, pp. 41–47.
- Vasily Ivanchuk : Mistakes in the fire of the fight (tournament report), in: Schach , 2001, No. 5, pp. 18-22.
- John Nunn : Anand's one-horse Amber race , in: New in Chess 2005, No. 3, pp. 64-75.
- Raj Tischbierek : Closer to the clouds (tournament report), in: Schach , 2003, No. 5, pp. 17-19.
- John van der Wiel : In the realm of the rich, the blind is king. Blind chess in Monaco , in: KARL. The cultural chess magazine , 2005, No. 2, pp. 26–31.
- Loek van Wely : The view from the end of the table (tournament report), in: Schach , 2007, No. 5, pp. 46–49.
Web links
- Melody Amber 2011
- Melody Amber 2010 ( Memento from July 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- Melody Amber 2009 ( Memento from February 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- 12. Melody Amber 2003 ( Memento of April 8, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
- 11. Melody Amber 2002 ( Memento from June 4, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
- 10. Melody Amber 2001 ( Memento from March 1, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
- 9. Melody Amber 2000 ( Memento from April 17, 2002 in the Internet Archive )