German grandmaster completes the field of 10 participants

He is 21 years old, already has a number of successes to his name and has passed the magic 2600 mark with his FIDE rating: Dmitrij Kollars, who is looking forward to his first appearance at the Sparkassen Chess Trophy in July. He was already awarded the grandmaster title in 2017 and has also been active in the German Bundesliga for several years. Last year, the professional chess player was able to play only few tournaments at the board, but won the strong Claus Dieter Meyer Memorial Tournament in Bremen in October. His last appearance at the "DSB-Kader-Challenge" was also successful, so Kollars will go into the Dortmund tournament quite optimistic. 

So the ten participants are fixed: Deutschland Grand Prix - Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2021 (sparkassen-chess-trophy.de)

The draw of the lots for the rounds will also take place shortly so that the players can prepare specifically for the tournament.

Exciting field of participants and norm chances in the 9-round tournament

As already announced, there will be a second top-class round robin tournament in addition to the Deutschland Grand Prix, which opens up opportunities for young German talents in particular to fight for coveted norms for the title of International Master. For this, one Grandmaster, two International Masters and 7 aspiring youngsters are at the start.

1. GM Mihael Saltaev, UZB, 2480, three Olympiads for Uzbekistan, Bundesliga player
2. IM Dennes Abel, GER, 2462, Bundesliga player
3. IM Thomas Beerdsen, NED, 2453, Bundesliga player
4. FM Ruben Gideon Köllner, GER, 2407, German Champion U16 2020
5. FM Oliver, Stork, GER, 2394, German Champion U18 2020
6. FM Alexander Krastev, GER, 2340, German Champion U14 2019, Team European Champion U18 2019
7. FM Marius Deuer, GER, 2283, 3rd place German Championship U16 2020
8. Sreyas Payyappat, IND, 2215, German Champion U12 2020
9. WFM Alessia Ciolacu, ROU, 2154, European Team Champion U18w 2018, Romanian Women's Champion 2021
10. Moritz Runte, GER, 2133, NRW Champion U18 2019, Winner German country Championship 2020

Picture: Alessia Ciolacu at the award ceremony for the Romanian Women's Championship

We wish good luck in the FIDE World Cup

GM Matthias Blübaum had been looking forward to the Dortmund Chess Days. But now the Chess World Cup is actually taking place at the same time and Blübaum has been given his place. As agreed with Blübaum in advance, the Dortmund organisation will therefore of course let him play in the Cup, which is part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship, and the Sparkassen Chess Trophy will have to take place without Blübaum this year. Blübaum is part of a German trio: Arik Braun and Rasmus Svane are also qualified. We wish them good luck!

Blübaum will be replaced by a top player in the German Grand Prix. The tournament management will present the last two participants of the round robin tournament in a few days.

15th World Chess Champion looks ahead to the NC World Masters

The time has come: Viswanathan Anand will play the first match in chess without castling in the duel of the world champions against Vladimir Kramnik in the Westfalenhallen Dortmund. After Vladimir Kramnik had already talked about the special features of the "No Castling" chess variation in an exclusive interview, Anand was now the guest and looked ahead to the big match. He also talks about his current projects in the pandemic and explains the personal significance that both Dortmund and Germany in general have for him. Have fun!

Interview on YouTube