Press release
SportAccord World Mind Games Online Chess Tournament
Lausanne, 8 October 2011 – SportAccord is pleased to announce
that the online chess tournament, part of SportAccord World Mind Games, will
take place on October 29, 2011. The one-day event will be open to everyone.
The hosting platform PlayChess is the
most popular chess server in the world with over 5000 players online every night
and 200,000 games per day.
SportAccord
World Mind Games Online Tournament is organised for each of the mind sports
participating in SportAccord World Mind Games; Bridge, Chess, Draughts, Go and
Xiangqi. The tournament will use the biggest existing online platforms. The
winner for each sport will receive an invitation to the first SportAccord World
Mind Games (return transportation ticket to the venue in Beijing, China, entry
ticket to the Games, accommodation, a commemorative medal and certificate).
The first edition of SportAccord World Mind Games will take place from 8-16
December 2011 in Beijing. This unique multi-sport event highlights the great
value of mind sports. The world's best players will deliver top-level performances
and create new valuable experiences based on intelligence, strategy and exercise
of mind.
SportAccord is the umbrella organisation
for 105 international sports federations and organisations. Its mission is to
support and to protect the common interests of the sports movement. Activities
include the online video portal The
Sports Hub, the organisation of multi-sports games, doping-free sport, as
well as sports’ social responsibility and sports’ integrity. Sport
Accord can be found on Facebook
and Twitter.
Contact:
SportAccord Marketing and Communication Department – Iwona Lapinska
Tel + 41 (0)21 612 30 78 Fax + 41 (0)21 612 30 71 or Iwona.Lapinska@sportaccord.com
Participants
No. |
Name |
Title |
Nat. |
Rtng |
born |
1 |
Karjakin, Sergey |
GM |
RUS |
2772 |
1990 |
2 |
Ivanchuk, Vassily |
GM |
UKR |
2765 |
1969 |
3 |
Ponomariov, Ruslan |
GM |
UKR |
2758 |
1983 |
4 |
Grischuk, Alexander |
GM |
RUS |
2757 |
1983 |
6 |
Gashimov, Vugar |
GM |
AZE |
2756 |
1986 |
5 |
Kamsky, Gata |
GM |
USA |
2756 |
1974 |
7 |
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar |
GM |
AZE |
2746 |
1985 |
8 |
Wang, Hao |
GM |
CHN |
2733 |
1989 |
9 |
Giri, Anish |
GM |
NED |
2722 |
1994 |
10 |
Le, Quang Liem |
GM |
VIE |
2717 |
1991 |
11 |
Vallejo Pons, Francisco |
GM |
ESP |
2716 |
1982 |
12 |
Wang, Yue |
GM |
CHN |
2716 |
1987 |
13 |
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
GM |
FRA |
2715 |
1990 |
14 |
Almasi, Zoltan |
GM |
HUN |
2710 |
1976 |
15 |
Dominguez Perez, Leinier |
GM |
CUB |
2710 |
1983 |
16 |
Navara, David |
GM |
CZE |
2705 |
1985 |
Women's section
No. |
Name |
Title |
Nat. |
Rtng |
born |
1 |
Hou, Yifan |
GM |
CHN |
2578 |
1994 |
2 |
Lahno, Kateryna |
GM |
UKR |
2554 |
1989 |
3 |
Muzychuk, Anna |
IM |
SLO |
2545 |
1990 |
4 |
Ju, Wenjun |
WGM |
CHN |
2536 |
1991 |
6 |
Stefanova, Antoaneta |
GM |
BUL |
2528 |
1979 |
5 |
Dzagnidze, Nana |
GM |
GEO |
2525 |
1987 |
7 |
Cmilyte, Viktorija |
GM |
LTU |
2525 |
1983 |
8 |
Danielian, Elina |
GM |
ARM |
2517 |
1978 |
9 |
Zatonskih, Anna |
IM |
USA |
2508 |
1978 |
10 |
Harika, Dronavalli |
IM |
IND |
2505 |
1991 |
11 |
Socko, Monika |
GM |
POL |
2490 |
1978 |
12 |
Cramling, Pia |
GM |
SWE |
2489 |
1963 |
13 |
Dembo, Yelena |
IM |
GRE |
2471 |
1983 |
14 |
Skripchenko, Almira |
IM |
FRA |
2470 |
1976 |
15 |
Kosteniuk, Alexandra |
GM |
RUS |
2469 |
1984 |
16 |
Paehtz, Elisabeth |
IM |
GER |
2461 |
1985 |
The average rating of the 2011 male participants is 2735, of the females
2510.
Schedule
Thurday, December 8 |
Opening ceremony |
Friday, December 9 |
15:00-19:00 |
Rapid Event: 3 rounds |
Saturday, December 10 |
15:00-19:00 |
Rapid Event: 2 rounds |
Sunday, December 11 |
15:00-19:00 |
Rapid Event 2 rounds |
Monday, December 12 |
15:00-19:00 |
Blitz Event: 8 rounds |
Tuesday, December 13 |
15:00-19:00 |
Blitz Event: 7 rounds |
Wednesday, Dec. 14 |
15:00-19:00 |
Blindfold, Pair Rapid: 3 rounds |
Thursday, December 15 |
15:00–19:00 |
Pair Rapid, Blindfold: 2 rounds |
Friday, December 16 |
12:00–16:00 |
Pair Rapid, Blindfold: 2 rounds, closing |
Saturday, December 17 |
Departure |
|
Full schedule of all games
(in PDF). We will provide futher details on the event in due course.

The organisers of the SportAccord World Mind Games are offering free trips
to the event for winners of special tournaments that will be held world-wide.
For instance twenty thousand bridge players are already competing on one of
four hosting platforms. For the chess section Playchess
will stage a tournament to determine who gets a ticket to Beijing.
The Qualifier will be a one-day tournament. We will play a preliminary 15 round
Swiss, with thinking time of 3+2 (three minutes + two seconds increment per
move). The top twelve players from this event will qualify for the final, which
will be a twelve-player round-robin, with the same rate of play. The qualifier
will be open for everyone. It will last approximately four hours and will start
at 14.00 CEST (server-time). After a break of 60 minutes we will start the round
robin final, which will last approximately three hours.
All players in the final have to reveal their real names in order to participate.
All prizes will be given only to the players who won them, i.e. they cannot
be transferred to any other person.
The top prize will be an expenses paid trip (flight plus accommodation) to
the SportAccord World Mind Games. The winner is not entitled to actrually play
in the Mind Games, but will be a guest at the event and assist in some social
and cultural events promoting chess in China. Playchess.com and ChessBase GmbH
will provide extra prizes (software packages) for all players in the final,
and some lucky players in the preliminary.
The Qualifier will be held on the 29th of October 2011. Further information
will be provided before then, but you can keep the Saturday free on your calendar.