The Kings Tournament () is an international

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

tournament contested annually since 2007 in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. The tournament is organised by the

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

chess club ''

Elisabeta Polihroniade Elisabeta Polihroniade (; née Ionescu; 24 April 1935 – 23 January 2016) was a Romanian chess player holding the title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM), and an International Arbiter (1986). She was born in Bucharest. She won the Romanian Chess Champi ...

'' and the company

Romgaz Societatea Națională de Gaze Naturale Romgaz SA Mediaș (SNGN Romgaz SA) or simply Romgaz is the largest natural gas producer in Romania and one of the largest producers in Eastern Europe. The company is the country's main supplier and responsib ...

History and organisation

Until 2011, the tournament took place throughout the month of June. The three first editions (2007 to 2009) took place in

Bazna Bazna (; Transylvanian Saxon dialect: ''Baußen''; ) is a commune located in Sibiu County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Bazna, Boian (''Bonnesdorf''; ''Bonnesdref''; ''Alsóbajom'') and Velț (''Wölz''; ''Welz''; ''Ve ...

. Since 2010, the tournament has been a

double round-robin A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

. In 2010 and 2011 (fourth and fifth editions), there were six participants and it took place in

Mediaș Mediaș (; , , Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Medwesch''/''Medveš''/''Medwisch'', ) is the second largest municipiu, town and municipality in Sibiu County, Transylvania, central Romania. Geography Mediaș is located in ...

; it included the world number one

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...

. In 2012, after being postponed, the tournament took place from 7 to 14 November in

with four players;

Vasyl Ivanchuk Vasyl Mykhailovych Ivanchuk (; born March 18, 1969) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was awarded the title of International Grandmaster, Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading chess player since 1988, Ivanchuk has been ranked at No. 2 on t ...

won the tournament. In 2013, the tournament took place in October with only five participants, with the eventual winner being

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an Italian and American chess grandmaster who is the reigning four-time United States Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2844, Caruana is the third-highest-rated player in history. Born in Mia ...

. In 2014, the tournament was organised via the

Scheveningen system The Scheveningen system () is a method of organizing a chess match between two teams. Each player on one team plays each player on the other team. The team with the highest number of games won is the winner. This system was a popular way to cr ...

: a match-tournament between the Chinese and Romanian national teams. In 2010 and 2011, the winner of the tournament, Magnus Carlsen, qualified for the

Bilbao Chess Masters Final The Bilbao Chess Masters Final (previously called the Grand Slam Chess Final) was an annual chess tournament which between 2008 and 2012 brought together the strongest players from the previous year's "Grand Slam" events. Series organisers Grand ...

which took place at the year end.

Honours (2007-2013)

Sixth edition (2012) : win for Ivanchuk after tie

The tournament, initially due to take place from 23 June to 4 July 2012, was cancelled after the withdrawal of the sponsor Romgaz. It eventually took place from 7 to 14 November in Bucharest with four players (Ivantchouk, Topalov, Caruana and Nisipeanu. After 6 games, Vassili Ivantchouk and Veselin Topalov were tied on points at 3,5/6. The two players then played speed games, with Ivantchouk winning the first and tying the second, winning him his second Kings Tournament. Vassili Ivantchouk (2763) -

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (born 1 August 1976) is a Romanian chess grandmaster. His peak FIDE rating was 2707 in October 2005, when he was ranked fifteenth in the world, and the highest rated Romanian player ever. Only in September 2022 his rating ...

(2668) ODE ECO E32 1.d4 Cf6 2.c4 e6 3.Cc3 Fb4 4.Dc2 0–0 5.a3 Fxc3+ 6.Dxc3 b5 7.cxb5 c6 8.Fg5 cxb5 9.e3 Fb7 10.Cf3 a6 11.Fd3 h6 12.Fh4 d6 13.0–0 Cbd7 14.Db4 Db6 15.Fg3 Fe4 16.Fe2 Tfc8 17.Tfc1 Ce8 18.Cd2 Fc2 19.h3 Tab8 20.a4 bxa4 21.Dxb6 Cxb6 22.Fxa6 Tc7 23.Fb5 f6 24.Fxe8 Txe8 25.Fxd6 Tc6 26.Fc5 Fg6 27.Cc4 Cxc4 28.Txc4 Ta8 29.Tcxa4 Txa4 30.Txa4 Fd3 31.Ta3 Fe2 32.Ta8+ Rf7 33.Ta7+ Rg8 34.Tb7 Ta6 35.Fb4 Ta1+ 36.Rh2 Tc1 37.h4 h5 38.Fc3 Fc4 39.Tc7 Fd3 40.Tc5 Tc2 41.Rg3 Fe2 ee diagram'' 42.e4 Rf7 43.d5 exd5 44.Txd5 Fg4 45.f3 Fe6 46.Txh5 Fc4 47.e5 Rg6 48.Th8 Ff1 49.exf6 1–0

Since 2014

Eighth edition (2014) : Romania - China

In 2014 the Kings Tournament was a preliminary blitz tournament between six Romanian and four Chinese players, followed by a four-round match between a team of four Romanians (Lupulescu, Parligras, Jianu and Nevednichy) and four Chinese (Wang Yue, Wei Yi, Ni Hua and Lu shanglei). China won the match 13 to 3. The two best players in each team played a rapid match. Wang Yue beat Jianu.

Ninth edition (2015) : Romania - Germany

In 2015, the Kings Tournament was a five-round match between a Romania team ( Deac, Parligras, Marin, Nevednichy and Lupulescu) and a Germany team (Wagner, Buhmann, Blübaum, Donchenko and Fridman). The German team won 14 to 11.

Tenth edition (2016) : Vladimir Kramnik - Hou Yifan rapid and blitz matches

In 2016, the Kings Tournament consisted of an eight-part rapid match and a 12 part blitz match between

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. He was the World Chess Champion#Split title (1993–2006), Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the 14th undisputed World Ch ...

and

Hou Yifan Hou Yifan ( ; born 27 February 1994) is a Chinese chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster, three-time Women's World Chess Champion and professor at Peking University. She is the second highest Elo rating system, rated female player of all time.

. Kramnik won the rapid match 5,5 to 2,5 and the blitz match 6 to 4. There was also a rapid tournament between five players and five Romanian players, won by Vlad-Christian Janu beating

Mihail Marin Mihail Marin (born 21 April 1965) is a Romanian chess player and writer. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE. Marin's first major success in international chess was in qualifying for the Interzonal in 1987. He has won three Romanian ...

, Bogdan-Daniel Deac and Levente Vajda.

11th edition (2017) : Rapid and blitz tournaments

In 2017, the Kings Tournament consisted of two rapid tournaments (mixed and women's) and two blitz tournaments (mixed and women's). Vassili Ivantchouk won the blitz and rapid tournaments beating Sergueï Kariakine,

Wei Yi Wei Yi (; born 2 June 1999) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. Wei became a grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 8 months and 23 days, the 9th youngest in history. He is the youngest player ever to reach a rating of 2700, accomplishing this feat ...

and

Bogdan-Daniel Deac Bogdan-Daniel Deac (born 8 October 2001) is a Romanian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 14 years, 7 months and 27 days. Deac crossed the 2700 barrier for the first time in September 2022, when he r ...

Anna Muzychuk Anna Olehivna Muzychuk (; ; born 28 February 1990) is a Ukrainian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster (GM). She is the fourth woman in chess history to attain a FIDE rating of at least 2600. She has been ranked as high as No. 197 in the wo ...

won the two women's tournaments, beating

Elisabeth Pähtz Elisabeth Pähtz (born January 8, 1985, sometimes spelt Elisabeth Paehtz) is a German chess Grandmaster.Pia Cramling Pia Ann Rosa-Della Cramling (born 23 April 1963) is a Swedish chess grandmaster. Since the early 1980s, she has been one of the strongest female players in the world as well as the highest-rated woman in the FIDE World Rankings on three occasio ...

and

Corina-Isabela Peptan Corina-Isabela Peptan (born March 17, 1978) is a Romanian chess player holding the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She was world girls' champion in several age categories: Under 10 in Timișoara 1988, Under 12 in ...

.Medias 2017
at theweekinchess.com.

External links

* Official site : www.turneulregilor.com ()

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kings Tournament Invitational chess tournaments Chess in Romania 2007 in chess Recurring sporting events established in 2007 2007 establishments in Romania