Armenia’s Levon Aronian gears up for London Chess ClassicDecember 11, 2018 - 15:02 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - London Chess Classic, the final leg of the 2018 Grand Chess Tour, will be held from December 11 to 17 in the British capital, with Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian also set to feature. Alongside Aronian are Hikaru Nakamura (U.S), Fabiano Caruana (U.S.) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) comprising the "final four" at the London Chess Classic. Four stages of the Grand Chess Tour 2018 have already been completed: Rapid / blitz tournaments in Leuven, Paris and Saint Louis, and the classical Sinquefield Cup, also in Saint Louis. This year's edition uses a new format, according to which the four players compete in a semi-final, then the two winners will then go to the final, while the losers play in a match for third place. In the semi-finals, the leader of the Grand Chess Tour meets fourth place in the standings and second place plays third. The pairings after the drawing of lots are: Caruana vs Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave vs Aronian. The London Chess Classic prizes (in order of place): 1. $120,000 2. $80,000 3. $60,000 4. $40,000 Top stories Armenian gymnast, Olympic bronze medalist Artur Davtyan has reached the finals of the World Cup. Gor Manvelyan has denied reports alleging that he has expressed a desire to one day play for the French national team. Roma midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan is not considering FC Spartak Moscow as his next haven, according to fresh reports. 10 Armenian lifters will compete in the 2021 World Championships scheduled to be held from 7 to 17 December in Tashkent. Partner news | Turkey extends military presence in Azerbaijan The Turkish parliament has adopted a bill submitted by Recep Tayyip Erdogan to extend the mandate of Turkish troops. Russia to begin assessing migrant workers' speaking skills Rosobrnadzor is planning to change the Russian language exam for migrant workers and include an assessment of speaking skills Armenian, Saudi Foreign Minister meet in Riyadh The two commended the positive dynamics of the development of political dialogue between Armenia and Saudi Arabia Pashinyan: Azerbaijan’s proximity shouldn’t worry border residents At the same time, he said that he “does not guarantee [the security of villagers] one hundred percent”. |