The Amber chess tournament (officially the Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess Tournament, previously Melody Amber) was an annual invitation-only event for some of the world's best players, from 1992 to 2011. Since the second edition, the event uniquely combined blindfold chess and speed chess, and has been held in Monte Carlo. The tournament is sponsored by the Dutch businessman and world champion of correspondence chess, Joop van Oosterom. Named after his daughter, the tournament is usually held in March.
The player with the most overall titles (as of 2010) is Vladimir Kramnik, with six. Viswanathan Anand is the only player to have won both the rapid and blindfold events in the same year (he did it twice, in 1997 and 2005). The most rapid events have been won by Anand (nine times), and the most blindfold events have been won by Kramnik (nine times).
Nearly every world class player has played in the tournament but Garry Kasparov. Vassily Ivanchuk is the only player to be playing in all 20 editions.
The 20th Amber Tournament was held in 2011 in Monaco, as was the first Amber Tournament.
Read more about Amber Chess Tournament: Winners, Melody Amber 1992, Melody Amber 2006, Melody Amber 2007, Melody Amber 2008, Tournament Books
Famous quotes containing the words amber and/or chess:
“Swimmer of noonday, lean for the perfect dive
To the dead Mother’s face, whose subtile down
You had not seen take amber light alive.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“The chess pieces are the block alphabet which shapes thoughts; and these thoughts, although making a visual design on the chess-board, express their beauty abstractly, like a poem.... I have come to the personal conclusion that while all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists.”
—Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968)