The 9th Edmonton Chess Festival is scheduled to take place from 20th to 29th June, 2014 at the Edmonton Chess Club in the city of Edmonton, Canada.
The main event will be a 10 player round-robin with a time control 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game plus 30 seconds increment from move 1.
The preliminary list of participants includes:
1. GM Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) 2753 – ranked 16th in the world
2. GM Wesley So (Philippines) 2731 – the young Filipino prodigy, recent winner of Capablanca Memorial 2014
3. GM Lazaro Bruzon (Cuba) 2678 – the defending Edmonton International champion
4. GM Anton Kovalyov (Canada) 2636 – the highest rated Canadian player
5. GM Irina Krush (USA) 2489 – the reigning U.S. champion for women
6. IM Raja Panjwani (Canada) 2444 – Canadian player who has a GM norm behind
7. IM Richard Wang (Canada) 2365 – the most promising Canadian player (just 15 years-old)
8. FM Vladimir Pechenkin (Canada) 2312 – a traditional player in Edmonton Chess Festival (this will be his 6th appearance)
9. FM Dale Haessel (Canada) 2171 – the only player who has played in all 9 Edmonton Internationals
A parallel Open Reserves will be organized, as well as many side events (GM Irina Krush lecture, GM Wesley So simul, Edmonton International Blitz tournament, etc).
The 9th Edmonton International – Open Reserves will be a 5 round Swiss with a time control 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game plus 30 seconds increment from move 1.
Chief Organizer: Micah Hughey mhughe@rocketmail.com
Assistant Organizer/ Website: IA Vlad Rekhson vrekhson@yahoo.ca
International Head Arbiter: FA Ali Razzaq: ali_alnajmi@hotmail.com
GM Wesley So should consider changing Federation from Philippines to either US or Canada or any federations who will support him all the way especially financially and/ or some corporate sponsors will do. Sticking it out with the Philippines federation who is not that supportive to him ( as the federation is headed by corrupt politicians) will do no good to Wesley So ascension to the top. Please do consider changing Federartion Wesley I bet Canada Chess Federation would be really happy to have you in their team 🙂
Why such a weak field?
The Edmonton Chess Festival is a first class chess tournament. The top 4 players are 2600+ and 2 players over 2700+. Not to mention the current USA ladies champion. The tournament has an excellent history and the winners have always been world class players.I can hardly wait for it to begin,
Steve Sklenka
The Edmonton Chess Festival is a world class chess tournament. There are 4 players with over 2600 Rating and 2 players with over 2700 Rating. Not to mention the reigning USA ladies champion. The tournament has always been a great success due to its excellent organizational personnel.I can hardly wait for it to begin. Steve Sklenka.
I hope Wesley So will win most if not all of his game in this tournament with a playing to win attitude (not merely to draw). By the time he will play in this tournament, baring any loses in Las Vegas Chess Festival, Wesley So elo would be somewhere within 2750. And a draw against any player in this field means lose of elo points, much more so a loss. Everytime he will draw, he will lose elo points as the highest ranked player. The only remedy to protect his ranking is to always play to win with a draw as the last resort. Play like the way yo do in Capablanca. Dont play the Nakamura style who is after of a draw or lost lol