Grenke Chess Classic 2017 is taking place this April with once again strong field.
World Champion Magnus Carlsen will again be competing, ready to defend his title. His strongest competitors are top ten players Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian. Grandmaster Arkadij Naiditsch will once again be joining the race for tournament victory. Naiditsch, competing for Azerbaijan, stood up brilliantly to the World Champion two years ago. In a legendary final he fought against Carlsen in a tiebreak for the title, which the Norwegian only claimed in a final Armageddon game.
The organizers of the GRENKE Chess Classic 2017 are also pleased to announce the participation of Hou Yifan, the strongest female chess player in the world. Yifan is one of eight players in a line-up complemented by German national players Matthias Blübaum and Georg Meier.
For the 19-year-old Blübaum it is his first time participating in a grandmaster tournament of this category and will be a great challenge. He qualified for this year’s Chess Classic by winning the GRENKE Chess Open 2016.
