Anand, Kramnik to clash in Advanced Chess

Vishwanathan Anand will face Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in the Advanced Chess match in Leon, Spain, which will be played at the Conde Luna hotel from Friday.

In Advanced Chess both players are allowed to consult a computer, using databases and chess programs to analyse the position.

In León, the players will be using ChessBase and the chess program Fritz, with the option of consulting other engines like Hiarcs, Junior and Shredder. Each player has one hour for the whole game.

The event will be played in three sessions: two games on Friday, two games on Saturday and the last two games on Sunday. In case of a draw, there will be a blitz (five minutes for each player without computers) match to decide the winner.

Advanced Chess is a new form of chess in which humans and computers join forces and compete as a team against each other. It represents a high-tech approach to the game and increases the level of play to heights never before seen in chess. It also gives the viewing public a unique insight into the thought processes of chess playing humans and computers.

Advanced Chess was conceived and introduced into the international tournament circuit by Garry Kasparov, who played the first public match against Veselin Topalov in June 1998. The match was organised by Marcelino Sion in the city of Léon, Spain. Since then Léon has hosted three more Advanced Chess events, all three of which were won by Vishwanathan Anand.

In 1999, Anand defeated former FIDE World champion Anatoly Karpov by an overwhelming 5-1 score. He won again in 2000, beating Alexey Shirov in the final match, and again beat the same opponent in the 2001 edition.