Five-time World Chess Champion India's Viswanathan Anand, World No. 1 Norway's Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin (Russia), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Romania) were to take part in the event that was to be held from June 23 to July 4 in Medias.
Tournament Press Chief Dorian Rogozenco said, “The organisers will do everything they can in order to hold the tournament later this year. The reason for not holding the tournament now is the financial crisis and very unstable political situation in Romania.”
Last year, another Grand Slam chess tournament - the traditional Linares event - was cancelled. The Bazna Kings Chess is the second grand slam event to be cancelled now. Two other Grand Slam events — Pearl Spring tournament in Nanjing (China) and the M-Tel Masters in Sofia (Bulgaria) — have also been put on hold for now.
Romanian natural gas company Romgaz sponsored the event. A state-owned company, it saw change of leadership even as Romania witnessed a change in the political scene with Prime Minister Victor Ponta winning elections to replace the Social Liberal Union Government.
Magnus Carlsen had won the fifth edition of the Bazna Kings Chess in a tiebreak over Sergey Karjakin.
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