First SportAccord Chess Mind Games in Beijing from Dec 8-17

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hello everyone,

An interesting event - the first SportAccord Mind Games - with open and women's chess sections with 16 players each will be held in Beijing from December 8-17. This event will be an elite event and will be based on an invitation basis for 16 players (open) and 16 women players. 

For the open events, the minimum rating, based on the July 2011 rating list must not be less than 2700. For the Women’s events, the minimum rating is not less than 2450. There will be four events in total although each player selected by FIDE and SportAccord will participate in three of the events.

The schedule includes:

8th December 2011 Arrival

• 9th – 11th December Rapid Events (Open and Women – 16 players each)
• 12th – 13th December Blitz Events (Open and Women – 16 players each)
• 14th – 16th December Blindfold Event (Open and Women – 8 players each) and Pairs Event (8 teams of two players)
• 17th December 2011 Departure

FIDE will also select which players will participate in the blindfold or pairs event. As per the player’s commitment, SportAccord will cover the travel expenses for the players including flight, accommodation and full board for the duration of the event. The prize fund for the various events is 320,000 USD but all players will be guaranteed a minimum prize / fee of 4,000 USD for open event participants and 2,000 USD for the womens’ event participants. This minimum guarantee is only valid for those players who will not have won any prize money from any of the events or whose total prize money may be less than the amount guaranteed.

Players who wish to register for the event, and currently qualify through rating, or may qualify in July 2011, should send an email to office@fide.com expressing their interest in participating.

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