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Prague International Chess Festival 2020
February 6, 2020
From ChessBase:
The second annual Prague International Chess Festival will take place from February 11th to 22nd 2020 at the four-star hotel Don Giovanni. The participants will be able to take part in the Masters tournament, the Challengers tournament; the Open tournament and rating class tournaments, competing for sets of medals.
The preparations for the second annual of the Prague International Chess Festival are in their final stages. Last year's inaugural tournament was held from March 5th-16th, but moving the tournament from March to February prevents an overlap with the Czech Youth Championship. Current plans are to keep this calendar slot in the future.
Petr Boleslav, the festival director, explains:
We definitely want our best junior and youth players to have the opportunity to participate in the festival...March is often filled with international events, too. February presents a less eventful month, certainly. I believe that after the Tata Steel Chess in January and Gibraltar in late January, our own chess festival will have a permanent spot on the world calendar, in the second week of February.
The traditional format of the festival remains the same. The Masters tournament will be for ten players from the World’s top 50 will take part in the fight for the main trophy of the chess festival. In the closed Challengers tournament, there will be ten further players who will be competing not only for first place but also for an advanced position in the tournament in the upcoming year.
https://en.chessbase.com/post/prague...l-2020-preview
World Junior #1 Alireza Firouzja to play in Prague
A few days before the start of the Prague International Chess Festival, the organizers had to deal with unexpected circumstances. Due to coronavirus, Chinese Grandmaster Wei Yi had to cancel his participation in the Masters Tournament at the last minute and will be replaced by the top Junior chess player GM Alireza Firouzja.
The situation from last year repeats. The young Chinese had already completed all the formalities required to participate in the first edition of the PICF Masters tournament but was nominated by the Chinese Chess Federation to participate in the World Team Chess Championship less than two months before the start.
“It was a difficult situation, but we understood that the national team comes first. We immediately agreed with Wei Yi that we would send him an invitation for the next year”, remembers the Festival Director Petr Boleslav and adds “I would not imagine that we will be in the same situation again.” The organizers have been in constant contact with the Chinese Grandmaster since the end of January as the coronavirus crisis deepened. Eventually, the events from the last weekend have definitely put an end to the participation of Chinese #3 at the Prague Masters tournament.
“12 years ago, I went to Pardubice with my friends. It was the first time I traveled abroad. I was happy when I was invited by Petr Boleslav to play at PICF Masters event, it was a great chance to visit the Czech Republic again. Prague is a fantastic city, and the tournament is high-leveled, featuring great players in the world, such as Duda, Vitiugov, Navara, Vidit and Hari. It would have been very challenging for me. But then the sudden coronavirus happened in China, and as the situation became worse and worse, it was impossible to make this journey. It is a pity, but I still look forward to playing in Prague. Perhaps next year. It's hard to predict who will win this tournament because all of them are very strong, but personally I prefer David because he was my teammate and helped us to win the 2014 Chinese League.”
In light of the results at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in January, and especially at the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship in December, the name of the substitute was obvious. The 16-year-old Iranian #1 Alireza Firouzja joined the 2700 club last August and seems to be settling in. “I think we have something to look forward to. Firouzja simply lifts viewers out of their chairs, as I experienced recently in Wijk aan Zee” says the Festival Director Petr Boleslav.
The opening ceremony of the Prague International Chess Festival starts on Tuesday 11 February in Don Giovanni Hotel, and the first round of Masters, Challengers and Futures is scheduled on 12 February at 3.00 pm, while the open events start on 14 February at the same time.
http://praguechessfestival.com/tourn...layers-english
Masters Participants
1 Jan-Krzysztof Duda
2 Nikita Vitiugov
3 Alireza Firouzja
4 Harikrishna Pentala
5 Vidit Santosh Gujarathi
6 David Navara
7 David Anton Guijarro
8 Nils Grandelius
9 Samuel Shankland
10 Markus Ragger
_____________
Peter Doggers take on all this at:
https://www.chess.com/news/view/alir...yis-withdrawal
February 6, 2020
From ChessBase:
The second annual Prague International Chess Festival will take place from February 11th to 22nd 2020 at the four-star hotel Don Giovanni. The participants will be able to take part in the Masters tournament, the Challengers tournament; the Open tournament and rating class tournaments, competing for sets of medals.
The preparations for the second annual of the Prague International Chess Festival are in their final stages. Last year's inaugural tournament was held from March 5th-16th, but moving the tournament from March to February prevents an overlap with the Czech Youth Championship. Current plans are to keep this calendar slot in the future.
Petr Boleslav, the festival director, explains:
We definitely want our best junior and youth players to have the opportunity to participate in the festival...March is often filled with international events, too. February presents a less eventful month, certainly. I believe that after the Tata Steel Chess in January and Gibraltar in late January, our own chess festival will have a permanent spot on the world calendar, in the second week of February.
The traditional format of the festival remains the same. The Masters tournament will be for ten players from the World’s top 50 will take part in the fight for the main trophy of the chess festival. In the closed Challengers tournament, there will be ten further players who will be competing not only for first place but also for an advanced position in the tournament in the upcoming year.
https://en.chessbase.com/post/prague...l-2020-preview
World Junior #1 Alireza Firouzja to play in Prague
A few days before the start of the Prague International Chess Festival, the organizers had to deal with unexpected circumstances. Due to coronavirus, Chinese Grandmaster Wei Yi had to cancel his participation in the Masters Tournament at the last minute and will be replaced by the top Junior chess player GM Alireza Firouzja.
The situation from last year repeats. The young Chinese had already completed all the formalities required to participate in the first edition of the PICF Masters tournament but was nominated by the Chinese Chess Federation to participate in the World Team Chess Championship less than two months before the start.
“It was a difficult situation, but we understood that the national team comes first. We immediately agreed with Wei Yi that we would send him an invitation for the next year”, remembers the Festival Director Petr Boleslav and adds “I would not imagine that we will be in the same situation again.” The organizers have been in constant contact with the Chinese Grandmaster since the end of January as the coronavirus crisis deepened. Eventually, the events from the last weekend have definitely put an end to the participation of Chinese #3 at the Prague Masters tournament.
“12 years ago, I went to Pardubice with my friends. It was the first time I traveled abroad. I was happy when I was invited by Petr Boleslav to play at PICF Masters event, it was a great chance to visit the Czech Republic again. Prague is a fantastic city, and the tournament is high-leveled, featuring great players in the world, such as Duda, Vitiugov, Navara, Vidit and Hari. It would have been very challenging for me. But then the sudden coronavirus happened in China, and as the situation became worse and worse, it was impossible to make this journey. It is a pity, but I still look forward to playing in Prague. Perhaps next year. It's hard to predict who will win this tournament because all of them are very strong, but personally I prefer David because he was my teammate and helped us to win the 2014 Chinese League.”
In light of the results at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in January, and especially at the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship in December, the name of the substitute was obvious. The 16-year-old Iranian #1 Alireza Firouzja joined the 2700 club last August and seems to be settling in. “I think we have something to look forward to. Firouzja simply lifts viewers out of their chairs, as I experienced recently in Wijk aan Zee” says the Festival Director Petr Boleslav.
The opening ceremony of the Prague International Chess Festival starts on Tuesday 11 February in Don Giovanni Hotel, and the first round of Masters, Challengers and Futures is scheduled on 12 February at 3.00 pm, while the open events start on 14 February at the same time.
http://praguechessfestival.com/tourn...layers-english
Masters Participants
1 Jan-Krzysztof Duda
2 Nikita Vitiugov
3 Alireza Firouzja
4 Harikrishna Pentala
5 Vidit Santosh Gujarathi
6 David Navara
7 David Anton Guijarro
8 Nils Grandelius
9 Samuel Shankland
10 Markus Ragger
_____________
Peter Doggers take on all this at:
https://www.chess.com/news/view/alir...yis-withdrawal
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