Fischer Random tournament on 23rd May 2020 on Playchess

Buddhibal Kreeda Trust Fischer Random Blitz on 23rd May

On the heels of the success of BKT Online Blitz on 14th April 2020, Buddhibal Kreeda Trust will be back to organize a Fischer Random Open Blitz event which will have a total prize fund of ₹35000 with the first prize of ₹11000. The entire prize fund is sponsored by Buddhibal Kreeda Trust. And 50% of the entry collected will be donated to the CM Relief fund of Maharashtra. Entry is free for GMs, IMs, WGMs and WIMs. For everyone else the entry fee is ₹300. The event is open to players all over the world.

Prakash Kunte, the man who started the Buddhibal Kreeda Trust, and his better half. 

Prakash has worked tirelessly throughout his life to ensure that chess in Maharashtra and India develops. He has nurtured two of the finest talents of Indian chess - GM Abhijit Kunte and WIM Mrunalini Kunte.

GM S L Narayanan won Buddhibal Kreeda Trust Online Blitz on 14th April 2020

Details of the online tournament

Date: Saturday 23rd May 2020

Time: 8.00 p.m. IST

Time control: 3 mins + 1 sec increment

Number of rounds: 9

Total Prize fund: ₹35000

Venue: Chess 960 Tournaments in Playchess under Thematic Chess room

Main Prizes (All prizes mentioned in Indian Rupees)

1 USD = Rs.75

Best Below 1700

Best Below 1500

Best Women

FIDE Standard Rating will be considered for Rating Category prizes, a player without a standard rating will be considered as an unrated player. One player will be eligible for one higher prize only.

Entry fees

The entry fee for the event is ₹300. The tournament is FREE for GMs, IMs, WGMs and WIMs. The last date for entry is 23rd of May 2020 12 p.m. IST. Registration is Open. If you are an Indian, you can register here.

International players (outside India) can submit €5 entry fee here via Paypal and email us their name, FIDE ID and Playchess ID to teamchessbaseindia@gmail.com

Titled players must write to us at teamchessbaseindia@gmail.com with their playchess id to confirm their entry.

List of confirmed players

Chess960 rules

Chess960 (also known as Fischer Random Chess) is a variant of chess invented and advocated by former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer. It employs the same board and pieces as standard chess; however, the starting position of the pieces on the players' home ranks is randomized. The random setup renders the prospect of obtaining an advantage through the memorization of opening lines impracticable, compelling players to rely on their talent and creativity.

There are in all 960 possibilities. This starting position was used in the game between Hikaru Nakamura and Levon Aronian in their Mainz Chess960 World Championship. This is position number 666.

All the pieces move in the same manner as chess. Two important rules while arranging pieces on the last rank is that the bishops should be on opposite coloured squares and the rooks should be on the opposite side of the king.

Castling in chess960

The only complicated rule that is to some extent different from normal chess is castling. In chess 960 the king and the rook end up in the exact same position after castling as in normal chess after castling.

The king is on f1 and the rook on g1. So in order to castle short, I do not need anything. I can just touch my king on f1 and bring it over the g1 rook and leave it. The rook will jump over to f1 and the king will settle down on g1 and it will be a short castling done.

You have already castled!

Now let's go to the initial position again:

How do we castle long?

When we castle long, the king needs to touch the rook on the queenside. Both these squares are taken up by the bishops. Hence after five moves I try to vacate these squares. The position looks something like this:

Now I drag my king and drop it on the queenside rook to do long castle

The rook on its own moves to d1 and you have successfully 0-0-0!

For those who are new/unfamiliar with Fischer Random/Chess 960, it is highly recommended to play a few Fischer Random games to get accustomed to castling in various scenarios.

Contact: teamchessbaseindia@gmail.com

How to play tournament?

Please ensure that you have a valid Playchess id. You can create one here and then buy the premium membership from the product embeds given above.

1. Download the free Windows software of Playchess

Next you have to download the free native Windows software from here. If you have Mac OS or Mac Computer, then you have to use some VMWare to run it as Playchess Desktop Client has native support on Windows OS only. The tournament cannot be played via mobile or tablet device.

Login or Create account

After you have installed the Client. You must login.

Enter your Playchess/ChessBase Account username and password. Locate Thematic Chess Room under Rooms on the bottom right of the screen.

Click on Thematic Chess to get the Chess960 Tournaments option and then select it.

The tournament will take place in the Chess960 Tournaments in the Thematic Chess room. Registered players should be online and logged into Playchess at least 45 minutes before the start of the tournament to confirm your entries on 23rd of May 2020. 7:15 p.m. IST would be a good time.

Click on the ‘Players’ Tab and then click on ‘Join Event’. If 'Join Event' button does not show and 'Unregistered' shows instead, it means you have been registered in the tournament. The Tournament Director will accept your entry. Only those who have paid the entry fee will be allowed to play.

Note: The Playchess id, while registering and playing the tournament should be the same.

Important links:

Read more about the event and BKT

Players outside India pay your entry fee here and send a mail to teamchessbaseindia@gmail.com confirming your entry.