In Monte Carlo, March 11-24, the world’s elite chess players are playing a blindfold/rapid tournament. Each round features a blindfold game followed, later in the day, by a rapid game between the same players.

Fighting for a share of the € 227 000 prize fund are:

• World Champion, Viswanathan Anand (India)
• Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
• Levon Aronian (Armenia)
• Vladimir Kramnik (Russia)
• Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)
• Alexander Grischuk (Russia)
• Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)
• Sergey Karjakin (Russia)
• Boris Gelfand (Israel)
• Hikaru Nakamura (United States)
• Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan)
• 16-year-old, Anish Giri (Netherlands)

Currently, after four rounds, GM Aronian and GM Carlsen are tied in the lead with a combined 6/8. American GM Nakamura is tied for 5th-8th out of 12, with 4/8.

• Watch grandmasters forget where their pieces are – live at ChessBomb/Chessdom.
• Visit the official Amber Chess Tournament site.
• Check the Amber 2011 coverage at chessbase.com.