Grandmaster Maurice Ashley and his partner Amy Lee have recently announced
that the Millionaire Chess tournament will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada
from October 9 to October 13, 2014.
The driving forces behind this tournament,
Amy Lee and Maurice Ashley
The tournament is very unique in that its prize fund is amazingly high,
especially for an open event. As opposed to many tournaments this event
will not be providing conditions to the top players, quite the contrary
- the event has a whopping $1,000 entry fee and everyone from the lowest
rated to the top grandmasters will have to shell out the money to participate.
However, the prizes are certainly not only for the top-tiered players. The
goal of the event is to attract as many amateurs as possible as many of
them will be raking huge profits in this event:
Prize fund: $1,000,000
Open section
1st place – $100,000
2nd place – $50,000
3rd place – $25,000
4th – $14,000
5th – $8,000
6th – $4,000
7th to 20th – each $2,000
21st to 50th – each $1,000
2350-2499
1st place – $40,000
2nd place – $20,000
3rd place – $10,000
4th place – $5,000
Under 2350
1st place – $40,000
2nd place – $20,000
3rd place – $10,000
4th place – $5,000 |
Under 2200, U2000,
U1800, U1600
1st place – $40,000
2nd place – $20,000
3rd place – $10,000
4th place – $5,000
5th place – $3,000
6th place – $2,000
7th to 20th – each $1,000
21st to 50th – each $600
Under 1400 Section
1st place – $24,000
2nd place – $12,000
3rd place – $6,000
4th place – $4,000
5th place – $3,000
6th place – $2,000
7th to 20th – each $1,000
21st to 50th – each $600
|
Top Under 1200
1st place – $20,000
2nd place – $10,000
3rd place – $6,000
4th place – $4,000
5th place – $2,000
Top Under 1000
1st place – $8,000
2nd place – $4,000
3rd place – $2,000
4th place – $2,000
5th place – $2,000 |
The ratings listed above are USCF (United States Chess Federation) ratings
and there will be special conversion rules for people that do not have a
USCF rating, for example for international players their USCF rating will
be their FIDE + 100.
The venue of the tournament will be the famous Planet Hollywood hotel in
Las Vegas
Located in the heart of the Las Vegas strip, Planet Hollywood offers visitors
just about anything they could ask for. The Miracle Mile Shops is next door
and is home to more than 170 stores and 15 restaurants.
The organizers had reserved the right to cancel the event if there weren't
enough registrations by March 31st, and although so far there are less than
100 people registered on the official website (they would need 1000 to break
even on the prize fund alone) they feel confident enough that they have
announced that the tournament will occur. The press release is as follows:
"Las Vegas, Nevada – The Millionaire
Chess Open, a groundbreaking chess tournament offering the biggest prize
fund in chess history for an Open event, will checkmate the competition
October 9th at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.
The very first event, which boasts a million dollars in prizes, is being
billed as a game-changer for a sport that has been struggling to capitalize
on its huge fan base of amateur players.
“Chess is ready for this kind of bold undertaking,” says Maurice
Ashley, an International Grandmaster and a partner at Millionaire Chess,
the company hosting the event. “The game has seen a dramatic uptick
in interest recently, and this tournament is designed to ride that wave.
With the incredible explosion of scholastic chess as well as the massive
increase in the number of online players, we believe there is an opportunity
to capture huge market share.”
The tournament will feature the use of many high-tech novelties, never
before seen at a chess competition. Some of these innovations, currently
being worked on by the Playful Systems Lab at MIT’s Media Lab, include
algorithms that predict moves by a specific player, in essence hacking the
mind of a grandmaster. Organizers expect the technologies to find wider
applications in the areas of neuroscience, psychology, stress management,
and human performance.
Millionaire Chess intends to revolutionize the chess world and while seven
Grandmasters have already registered early, the tournament hopes to bring
in thousands of amateurs from around the world and of all ages.
We understand that chess suffers from a perception problem,” says
Ashley. “Most people think the game is just too difficult or too slow
to capture the public’s attention. But chess has been around for over
1500 years for a reason. It’s that enduring fascination that we believe
our company can tap into, and we expect this tournament will help take chess
to the next level.”
Amy Lee, an entrepreneur who is a partner at Millionaire Chess, sees the
project as a launching point for other undertakings.
The Millionaire Chess Open is just the first step in our business branding
itself as a global events and PR company,” she said in a recent interview.
“We’re thrilled by the enthusiastic response we have gotten
so far. It makes us confident that our vision to change a game like chess
is an idea whose time has come.”
About Millionaire Chess
Founded in 2013 by International Grandmaster Maurice Ashley and Entrepreneur
Amy Lee, Millionaire Chess is the highest-stakes open tournament worldwide
with a record setting prize fund. On October 9-13, 2014, thousands of participants
will come to Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada to
play and hundreds of thousands will watch online. This unprecedented tournament
will electrify chess fans worldwide."
A series of videos have been released to showcase what the tournament will
offer as well as to entice people to sign up for the event:
Currently the rating list is being topped by grandmaster Parimarjan Negi
from India, but with such a huge prize fund and with the attractiveness
of the beautiful playing site it is certain that many strong, and weak,
players will sign up for the event. Will you be taking the $40,000 class
prize or even the $100,000 main prize? Sign up and find out more information
at the official webiste or follow
their news at their facebook
page.
