Prague Chess Festival to take place in February 2024

Earlier than usual

Organizers announced the planned date of the 6^th Festival immediately after the conclusion of the June Prague International Chess Festival. After three summer years, the Festival will return to its traditional season, specifically between February and March, and place, i.e. Don Giovanni Hotel Prague. To be precise, the dates are 26^th February to 7^th March 2024.

Master Class Vol.16 - Judit Polgar

In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.

Preparations are well underway, exemplified by the portrait collection showcasing the five Masters tournament champions. Ladislav Vlna, the artist behind these portraits and the inventor of his unique metallurgical painting technique, has recently completed the portrait of the 5^th Prague International Chess Festival winner, American GM Ray Robson.

Prague Chess Festival 2024

Past winners: Nikita Vitiugov (2019), Alireza Firouzja (2020), Sam Shankland (2021), Pentala Harikrishna (2022), Ray Robson (2023)

The Festival is going to adhere to its time-proven format. The main stage will host closed tournaments of Masters, Challengers, and Futures. Both the main and side halls are going to fill up with participants of the Open tournament and rating tournaments. Side morning tournaments were very well received, and therefore they are going to be scheduled again for the 6^th year. Tournament director Petr Boleslav said:

I am very happy to see the new events, such as morning tournaments or the award ceremony of the PICF Grand Prix have caught on. We received a lot of positive feedback directly from participants and it is a great motivation to continue introducing innovative elements.

Detailed schedule and regulations of the 6^th Prague International Chess Festival are going to be published on the official website by the end of September. Registration for the Open tournament and rating tournaments will open at the same time, and participants can sign up directly through an online form.

Middlegame Secrets Vol.1 + Vol.2

Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!

Bogdan-Daniel Deac, Ray Robson