Saint Louis Chess Club To Host Two Online Tournaments In September – Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX & The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz
The World’s Best Grandmasters Will Compete For A Total Prize Fund of $400,000 In These Upcoming Events
SAINT LOUIS, August 21, 2020 – The top international chess superstars are set to battle online from September 11-19 in two exciting tournaments hosted by the Saint Louis Chess Club. Champions Showdown:Chess 9LX will feature the world’s top grandmasters including legendary World Champion Garry Kasparov, the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen and World Number 2 Fabiano Caruana. The ten grandmasters will be competing online from September 11-13 and the matches will be played in Chess 9LX style, also known as Fischer Random, with a $150,000 prize fund.
Chess 9LX is another term for Chess 960 or Fischer Random. Chess 9LX is a variant of chess created by Bobby Fischer in the late 1990s in which the pieces on the home rank are randomized, with 960 representing the number of possible starting positions. Players will not know the order of the home rank pieces until they arrive before the start of the round and will have to rely on their creativity in rapid and blitz games.
The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz will be held September 15-19 online and will showcase some of the world’s top rapid and blitz players including World Champion Magnus Carlsen and a few of the American favorites – Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez and Jeffery Xiong. The ten players will be competing for a $250,000 prize fund in nine rapid games and eighteen blitz games over five days of play. The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz is typically one of the Saint Louis legs of the famed Grand Chess Tour, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic this year’s tour was canceled.
“We are thrilled to bring these two fan-favorite tournaments to our global audience this September. While in-person tournaments are still not possible, we know that these upcoming events will intrigue and excite fans around the world,” said Tony Rich, Executive Director of the Saint Louis Chess Club.
Games will start daily at 1:00pm CDT (GMT-5) from September 11-13 for Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX and from September 15-19 for Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz.