The Final Chess Masters 2010, organized by the Grand Slam Chess Association, consists of two parts. The first one was a qualification tournament in Shanghai, on 3-8th September, with the participation of Hao Wang, Alexey Shirov, Levon Aronian, and Vladimir Kramnik.

Two players from Shanghai, Alexei Shirov and Vladimir Kramnik, advanced to the second stage in Bilbao, where they will meet world's top rated player Magnus Carlsen and the World Champion Viswanathan Anand.

The 2010 Final Masters will be played according to the Sofia rules (draws can be offered only through arbiters) and the Bilbao system (3 points for a win, 1 for draw, and 0 for loss). The Bilbao stage is taking place on 9-15th October.

The playing venue will be Alhóndiga Municipal de Bilbao. It is constructed in 1909 according to the project of Ricardo Bastida and is one of the emblematic buildings of the city. After passing through several stages the building was finally transformed into polivalent multicultural center which opened doors 18th of May, 2010.


Presentation and Anand's simul

The presentation of the Final Masters was attended by the World Champion Viswanathan Anand. He played a simul against famous people from the region, such as the President of the Bizkaia Basketball Federation Jon X. Davalillo, the Euskatel team member Koldo Fernández de Larrea, the TV presenter Adela González, and the Euskadi chess champions Alejandro Franco and Isabel Menoyo.

A total of 24 boards were put for the simul and the record of Anand was 23,5/24. The only draw was against José Ramón Arrupe - a 80 years old chess player, who in the 1950s was 4 times champion of Spain. This is not the first time Arrupe draws against World Champions, he has done it twice against Anatoly Karpov and once against Ponomariov.

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