This weekend: European Online Blitz Championship

by ChessBase
12/18/2020 – The European Blitz Championship will be played online on December 18-20, with over 200 players already registered to participate. An 11-round Swiss tournament, played on Friday, will serve as a qualifier for the knockout to be played on Saturday and Sunday — 16 players from the Swiss event will get a spot in the knockout. A press conference was held on Monday at the International Congress Centre in Katowice, with the participation of Poland’s number one Jan-Krzysztof Duda. | Photo: Official site

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European Blitz Championship to be played online

Press release

The European Chess Union and the Silesian Chess Federation are organizing the European Online Blitz Chess Championship 2020 with a prize fund of 12.000 €! 

Players from 40 European federations will compete for the main prizes and the European Online Blitz Champion title! The championship will be held on Tornelo.com, from 18th till 20th of December, and the event’s host city is Katowice.

In the era of pandemic lockdowns and thanks to the “Queen’s Gambit” miniseries, the sport gained popularity and proved its uniqueness, demonstrating that chess events can be easily transferred to the Internet. “Thanks to the new technologies, chess has this alternative that other sports cannot benefit from”, says Łukasz Turlej, Vice-President of the International Chess Federation.

An amazing number of 134 Grandmasters and 100 International Masters will participate at the event. Most of them are from Poland (42), Russia (40) and Germany (30). “Although online chess is less respected in the world than traditional chess, its importance is growing”, says Jan-Krzysztof Duda, the top ranked player at this tournament.

The Mayor of Katowice, Mr. Marcin Krupa, is proud of the fact that the city will organize such an important chess event in the current situation. “Chess is experiencing a renaissance. When it turned out that the traditional OTB tournament couldn't be played, there was a feeling of regret, but we immediately rolled up our sleeves and thought about holding an online tournament”, says Mayor Krupa.

Players will play under Arbiter’s observation in Zoom Platform. “Fair play and honesty of this tournament are very important for us”, explains Mr. Turlej.

The organization of the championship is supported by the city of Katowice, the Ministry of Sport of the Republic of Poland and Mokate.

Katowice, European Chess Union

A press conference was held on Monday at the International Congress Centre in Katowice


Regulations

Swiss tournament

Friday 18th of December - 18:00 - 21:00 CET - players 2300+  (FIDE standard rating) + wild cards, rate of play 3’+2”, Swiss system 11 rounds. The best 16 players qualify for the TOP16 Play-off.

Tie-breaks (Qualification - Swiss tournament):

  • Buchholz Cut 1
  • Buchholz
  • The greater number of games played with black
  • The greater number of wins

Play-off

The order of the players in the play-off is determined by the final standing in the qualification stage. The pairings for the first round are 1-16, 2-15, 3-14, 4-13, 5-12, 6-11, 7-10 and 8-9. Players will compete in four-game matches.

  • TOP16 - Saturday 19th of December - 20:00 - 22:00 CET - Players 2300+ promoted from the swiss tournament, rate of play 3’+2”, play-off, four-game matches + Armageddon (5’ vs 4’ with no increment).
  • TOP4 - Sunday 20th of December - 20:00 - 22:00 CET - Semifinals, final, 3rd place match, rate of play 3’+2”, play-off, four games match + Armageddon (5’ vs 4’ with no increment).

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