On Thursday, December 4, at 13:00, and Friday, December 5, at 15:30, the biggest Nordic sports channel, Viasat Sport, will air a rapid chess duel (ten minutes per player) between the winner of both the Nordic and Swedish Championships, Grandmaster Evgenij Agrest, and the two-time champion of Tusenmannaschacket, 20-year-old Pontus Carlsson.

GM Evgenij Agrest vs Tusenmannaschacket champion Pontus Carlsson

Agrest placed in the top twenty of the European Championships earlier this year, and is also famous for beating FIDE World Champion, Ruslan Ponomariov, in the European Team Championships a couple of weeks ago.

Although Agrest is ranked as the favourite, Carlsson is a rapid chess specialist who can be very dangerous when playing with faster time controls. His two wins in one of the world's biggest (close to a thousand participants) rapid chess tournaments, Tusenmannaschacket – where both grandmasters and amateurs take part – ought to prove him a tough match for his more experienced opponent.

The main reason for the program is to promote chess in the Nordic countries (Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden). If the response from the viewers is positive, Viasat Sport will consider producing a series of chess programs. The series will be based on a tournament with some of the strongest Nordic chess players.

For more information about Viasat Sport, go to www.viasat.se.