SportAccord World Mind Games 2014 (with Chess) Announced: Dec 9-18

Hello chess blog friends, some of the world's best chess players are expected to attend the 2014 SportAccord World Mind Games from Dec 9-18. Players have already been asked to submit their contract, to FIDE by not later than Friday 1st August 2014 for this year’s fourth edition of the Sport Accord World Mind Games. The selection has been based on the average of the player’s three ratings for classical, blitz and rapid.

The list for men invitees includes World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen, US #1 Hikaru Nakamura, World No. 2 Levon Aronian, former World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, Russian #1 Alexander Grischuk, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana, Sergey Karjakin, Vladimir Kramnik, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and other top players. The invitees' list for women chess players includes talented stars Judit Polgar (who is unlikely to attend as she does not play women's chess events), Hou Yifan, Anna Muzychuk, Koneru Humpy, Nana Dzagnidze, Kateryna Lagno, Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk, Antoaneta Stefanova and others. 

The 12th Women's World Chess Champion, GM Kosteniuk has not only been an ambassador for the SportAccord World Mind Games, but has a rich medal haul from the event as well. Read all about GM Kosteniuk's success at various editions of the SportAccord World Mind Games on her blog www.chessqueen.com.

A nice video from the event:




The events will include: 
• Rapid Events
• 16 male players – 16 female players (separate event for male/female)
• two days with seven rounds Swiss events;
• time control 20 mins each side plus 10 secs increment

• Blitz Events
• 16 male players – 16 female players (separate event for male/female)
• Three days with double round robin events (10 games per day);
• time control 3 mins each side plus 2 secs increment

• Basque Events
• 16 male players – 16 female players (separate event for male/female)
• two days with five rounds Swiss events;
• each player plays two games simultaneously per round with white and black pieces
• time control 20 mins each side plus 10 secs increment per game

Schedule: 
9th December 2014 Arrival of players and officials
11th December 2014 Rapid event (rounds 1-4)
12th December 2014 Rapid event (rounds 5-7)
13th December 2014 Blitz event (rounds 1-10)
14th December 2014 Blitz event (rounds 11-20)
15th December 2014 Blitz event (rounds 21-30)
16th December 2014 Basque event (rounds 1-3 Women), (rounds 1-3 Men)
17th December 2014 Basque event (rounds 4-5 Women), (rounds 4-5 Men)
18th December 2014 Departure

Prizes
Place Men Place Women1 $18,000 1 $10,000
2 $15,000 2 $9,000
3 $12,000 3 $8,000
4 $9,000 4 $7,000
5 $7,000 5 $6,000
6 $6,000 6 $5,000
7 $5,000 7 $4,000
8 $4,000 8 $3,000
9 $3,000 9 $2,000
10 $2,000 10 $1,000
11-16 $1,000 11-16 $500
Total $87,000 Total $58,000
Tie break will be used only for final medal positions but money prizes will be split equally.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal chess blog
at www.chessqueen.com
Don't miss Chess Queen™
YouTube Channel