Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
The World Chess Federation FIDE, the chess server Playchess and the Russian Aeroflot Open invite you to participate in the 2010 World Blitz Championship and offer you a chance to test your skill in blitz chess with the very best.
On February 18th 2010 a double nine-round Swiss blitz tournament will be held in the complex “Izmailovo” in Moscow, which will have the status of qualification for the World Blitz Championship 2010 (Final). The final tournament will take place in November 2010. It will consist of 20 players (ten participants of Mikhail Tal Memorial 2010, six winners of the Qualification Tournament of Feb. 18, 2010 and four to six wild cards. The prize fund of the Qualification Tournament constitutes EUR 40,000.
You have the chance to win a package, including travel costs and accommodation in Moscow for two days, to take part in the February 18 Blitz Qualifier. You can do this by taking part in the Internet tournament, which will be held from January 19th to 30th, 2010 on the Playchess server.
The tournament will be played with six preliminaries and one final. All tournaments will be Swiss tournaments with 17 rounds. Throughout the event the rate of play is three minutes plus two seconds increment per move (3+2).
Who can play?
The preliminary tournaments are open for anyone who has an account on playchess.com.
If you do not have an account you can create one after downloading the Playchess
client as described below. Any player can participate in as many preliminaries
as he or she likes.
Entry fee
The participation in the tournament is free.
Qualification for the final
The top ten players of each preliminary have the right to play in the final.
In case of a tie the tie will be broken by progressive score. If the progressive
score is still even all players who are involved in the progressive score will
get a place in the final.
Qualification for Moscow, 18th February 2010
The top three players from the final, held on January 30th 2010, will win a
trip to Moscow to participate in the Moscow stage for World Blitz Championship
final. Here in case of a tie the Tournament Director will set up tiebreak games
immediately after the tournament. The mode depends on the number of players
who are involved in these tiebreak and the number of spots available.
Dates
Here are the dates of play. All times are given Central European Time
(Greenwich Standard Time +1) which is the time-zone used on the server.
| Preliminary # 1 | Tuesday, 19th January 2010, 24.00 CET (midnight) |
| Preliminary # 2 | Wednesday, 20th January 2010, 18.00 CET |
| Preliminary # 3 | Saturday, 23rd January 2010, 15.00 CET |
| Preliminary # 4 | Monday, 25th January 2010, 20.00 CET |
| Preliminary # 5 | Tuesday, 26th January 2010, 18.00 CET |
| Preliminary # 6 | Thursday, 28th January 2010, 20.00 CET |
| Final | Saturday, 30th January 2010, 16.00 CET |
The following prizes have been donated by Aeroflot (travel to Moscow) and ChessBase GmbH (software):
| Winner: | Travel costs to Moscow, accommodation for two nights in a single room, plus a trophy |
| Places 2 and 3 | Travel costs to Moscow, accommodation for two nights in a single room |
| Places 4 to 7 | A ChessBase MegaPackage each |
| Places 8 to 11 | ChessBase Mega Database 2010 |
| Places 12 to 15 | Fritz 12 – the famous chess playing program and strong analysis tool |
Any player who made a least +1 and completed the tournament gets 12 months premium membership on playchess.com. Players who finish the tournament get six months premium membership. All prizes are available only to players whose names are given in the personal information.
There will also be numerous "lucky wins" for the players in the preliminaries. All players who finish in the places 11, 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71, 81, 91, 101, 111, 121, 131, 141 and 151 will win a lucky prize. However, in order to qualify for a lucky win – in this case 30 days premium membership on playchess.com – you need a valid serial number on playchess.com.
In order to play in the event you need the Playchess software. The client that is needed to play in the event is included with any current program in the ChessBase Shop. If you already own such a program you should install it and just log into the server.
If
you don't own a ChessBase product with the Playchess client you can download
it free of charge here and
install it on your computer. After installing you will have to restart your
computer and will then find a Playchess icon on your desktop. Double-click it
to start the program.
Click on "Login" to connect with the Playchess server
The program asks you to enter the name for your new account. You are more or less free to choose a name, but we recommend that you take a moment and look for one that you will be happy to keep. We cannot change silly names for you at a later stage. Also please do not use the name of other people, e.g. famous chess players. Fictional characters are allowed. And of couse do not choose a name which may be offensive. The nickname (handle) must be not longer than 15 letters. Click "Create New Player Name" to finish.
On the server you will be immediately be asked for personal information. We recommend you do this properly, because it is essential for this tournament and it is friendlier to other members. Your email address will never be visible to other users and is only available for staff members. It is only used to send you your password if you have forgotten it, or in case of other Playchess issues, e.g. if you win a prize or qualify for the playoff.
For the start the most important room is the main playing hall. Just enter it and try playing a few games of chess to get the feel of the client. After a couple of games you will receive a provisional rating. After five login days you will become a knight (if you have properly completed your personal information). We strongly recommend playing a few games before participating in the tournaments in order to get a feel for the server and to feel at home here.
For full instructions on how to use the Playchess client press F1 for help. You can also browse through our our online Playchess manual here.
All tournaments of the Playchess World Blitz Championship qualifier will be played in the "Emanuel Lasker Arena". It is to be found in the "Tournaments" area (click to open). Once registration has started you just need to click on the button "Join event" (left, under the list of players). The Director will register you for the tournament. You will receive a message from the TD (Tournament Director) in the chat window. This will either be "You are registered" – then everything is okay and you are in. Or "You are kibitzing", which means you are not yet registered.
The games will start automatically; the results will be automatically reported by the software. You have nothing to do but play chess and enjoy yourself. However, we recommend strongly trying a regular tournament before you play one that really counts!
