September 1 2003 - Corus Chess Press

This week two more signatures for the Grandmastergroup A have been collected: GM Zhang Zhong and GM Vladimir Akopian. Zhang Zhong is the first Chinese player in the A-group of Corus. He qualified for the A-group by his magnificent siege in the Grandmastergroup B of January 2003, when he scored 11 out of 13. Zhang Zhong will make his debut at the highest level.

Also new in the A-group is Vladimir Akopian, the Vice-World Champion of 1999/2000 when he lost the WC-final to Alexander Khalifman. Akopian played in Wijk aan Zee only one time, but this was during the experiment with the knock out-system. It will be his first round robin-experience in Wijk aan Zee.

With the earlier mentioned players (see the press release about Timman), this means that there are only two more players to follow.

To be continued....