ChessBase, the famous online chess platform, has launched a thrilling competition that will allow players from all over the world to face each other in exciting blitz chess games. Eight preliminary rounds take place from September 17 until October 20. Then, the best 15 players from each preliminary round will qualify for the Candidates tournament.
The Candidates tournament that will take place on October 27 will be a 17 round Swiss tournament, where the best twelve players will qualify for the final which will be played one day later. The final will be twelve player all-play-all (double round).
The winner of the Tournament will receive an invitation to attend the 2012 SportAccord World Mind Games in Beijing (travel and accommodation included). On top of this fantastic price, Samsung Tablets and Swatch watches will also be distributed to the other top players.
This is a multi-sport event centered on the gymnasium of the mind and highlighting the great value of the mind sports. The first edition in 2011 included five sports of great popularity and influence worldwide: Bridge, Chess, Draughts, Go and Xiangqi. The event showed some top-level mind games performances with the world's best players. It also showcased the Cultural and Social Programme. In addition, an online tournament organised between September and November 2011, extended the Games' reach to the worldwide audience. Beijing, the capital of China, is the host city of the SportAccord World Mind Games.
The tournament will be played in three steps. First there are eight preliminaries, each a nine-round Swiss, open to everyone with an account on playchess.com. The top 15 in each preliminary will have the right to play in the candidates tournament, where grandmasters with a FIDE rating of 2550 or higer are seeded and invited to join. The candidates tournament is a 17-round Swiss. The top twelve from the Candidates play the final, which will be a double round round-robin event.
All times are given in server time, which is CEST or UTC +2. Click on the times in the table below to get world-wide conversion for your location. Anyone who has an account on playchess.com may play. A serial number is not required. The times given in the schedule are for the official registration in the tournament room of the server – play will start approximately twenty minutes later. All tournaments will be played at a rate of three minutes for all moves plus a two-second increment per move (3'+2").
The final preliminaries takes place on Saturday, 20th October 2012, at 16:00h = 04:00 p.m.
Everyone who made it to the top 15 in one of the preliminaries has a place in the Candidates. In addition any GM with a FIDE rating of 2550 or higher is eligible, if their identity is verifiable or they have a bona fide account on Playchess. The Candidates will take part on Saturday, 27th October 2012, 16:00h = 04.00 p.m. server time (UCT +2). The tournament will be a 17 round Swiss. If players on place 12 have the same number of points, the TD will announce tiebreaks. All rounds, even the tiebreaks, will be played with 3'+2".
The top twelve players from the Candidates tournament will play the final as double round robin. If any of the qualified players fails to arrive in time, the TD will replace them with the next players from the candidates tournament, using the tiebreaks that were used. The speed of play is once again 3'+2". In order to take part in the finals you must give your real name in "personal information" (press F2) on Playchess. The Final will be held on the 28th of October, at 15.00h = 03:00 p.m. server time.
All tournaments will be played on playchess.com in the room Emanuel-Lasker Arena.
| Final | |
| First prize | All-included trip to Beijing |
| 2nd + 3rd prize | Samsung Tablet PC |
| 4th + 5th prize | Swatch watch |
| 6th + 7th prize | ChessBase premium pack |
| 8th + 9th prize | ChessBase Mega + CBM |
| 10th + 11th prize | ChessBase Mega |
| 12th prize | Deep Fritz 13 |
| Candidates | |
| First prize | Place in the Final |
| 13th + 14th place | 150 day premium membership |
| 15th – 16th place | 100 day premium membership |
| 18th – 20th place | 50 day premium membership |
There will be "lucky prizes" – 30 days premium membership on Playchess – for places 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100. In the preliminaries each of the top five winners will receive 150, 120, 90, 60 and 30 days of standard membership on Playchess – and in addition nine lucky wins will be awarded. In order to win any prizes players must finish the event properly (i.e. not drop out).
Tournament Director Martin Fischer
If you are not a member:You can use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to log into the chess server. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com. |
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