6th International Chess Festival RIGA TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OPEN
Riga Technical University and Latvian Chess Federation have an honour to announce the 6th “Riga Technical University Open”, which will take place on August 8th – 14th in the spacious International Exhibition Centre “Kipsala” (8 Kipsalas Street, Riga, Latvia), which is located across the bridge from the city center.
The 1st Riga Technical Open was held in August 2011 and won by GM Alberto David. 138 players from 17 countries participated in the main tournaments, including 8 GMs and 7 IMs. In 2012 the main tournament brought together 150 chess players from 26 countries, including 19 grandmasters and 16 masters. A tournament was won by Slovak GM Jan Markos. The biggest names of the festival were GMs Daniel Fridman, Jaan Ehlvest and Alberto David. In 2013 festival gathered 300 players from more than 30 countries including 27 GMs and 85 titled players. Main tournament was won by Polish GM Bartosz Socko. Besides the winner, the biggest names of the festival were GMs Monika Socko, Igor Kovalenko, Jaan Ehlvest and Aleksej Aleksandrov. In 2014 there were more than 400 players from around 40 countries participating in the festival including 120 titled players. The biggest names of the festival were GMs with ELO 2700+ Alexei Shirov and Richard Rapport. Many other strong GMs participated, including Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli, Igor Kovalenko, Daniel Fridman and Hrant Melkumyan, who won the tournament. In 2015 the main tournament gathered 191 players from 38 countries including 35 GMs and 74 titled players. Overall more than 400 participants took part in the festival. The biggest names of the festival were GMs Alexei Shirov, who won the main tournament, Igor Kovalenko, Daniel Fridman Robert Hovhannisyan, Rinat Jumabayev, Bartosz Socko and many others.
In the previous festivals many players have gained FIDE title norms as there are many titled players from various countries participating each year. Last year 4 participants gained GM norms, 3 players got IM norms, 1 gained WIM norm and 1 – IM norm. In 2014 FIDE title norms were gained by 11 participants of the festival.
In 2016 the program of the festival will feature four ELO tournaments and a blitz tournament. The guaranteed prize fund for the 6th edition of the festival is 18 600 EUR. First prize of the tournament A is planned to be 2300 EUR, there will also be special prizes for women, juniors, seniors and rating prizes.
Tournament A Grandmaster Tournament – Dedicated to Mikhail’s Tal’s 80th birthday
Swiss System, 9 rounds, August 8th – 14th, open for all players. The tournament will have GM, IM, WGM and WIM norms. Time limit: 90 minutes per game per player + 30 seconds per move starting from the move 1.
Tournament B Amateur ELO Tournament – Baltic Law Offices Open
Swiss System, 9 rounds, August 8th – 14th, Open tournament for players with ELO until 2299 and Latvian rating until 2399. Time limit: 90 minutes per game per player + 30 seconds per move starting from the move 1.
Tournament C Weekend Amateur ELO Tournament
Swiss System, 7 rounds, August 11th – 14th, open for players with ELO until 2199 and Latvian rating 2299. Time limit: 60 minutes per game per player + 30 seconds per move starting from the move 1.
Tournament D Amateur open ELO Tournament
Swiss System, 7 rounds, August 11th – 14th, open for players with ELO until 1799 and Latvian rating 1899. Time limit: 60 minutes per game per player + 30 seconds per move starting from the move 1.
Tournament E Open Blitz Tournament
Open blitz tournament, 14.08, 19:00, Swiss system, 11 rounds.
List of already registered participants can be found here http://rtuopen.lv/en/content/tournament. Early entries for the ELO tournaments and accommodation requests should be sent before 18th of July. Special prices for hotels are available till this date as well. More detailed information about schedule, accommodation and registration can be found in the official homepage of the tournament http://rtuopen.lv/.
On behalf of the organizers I would like to invite all chess players to participate in the Riga Technical University Open and all together develop the biggest tournament of classical chess in Latvia! Hope to see you in Riga!
Tournament director
IO Egons Lavendelis
Contact information:
E-mail: chess@rtu.lv