Altibox Norway Chess 2020
August 20, 2020
From the official site:
https://norwaychess.no/en/2020/08/19...t-post-corona/
The world as we know it has changed and people all over the world are facing challenging times. Sport events of all types have been cancelled as we together have been distancing ourselves to avoid the spread of the virus. For chess, this has been the case as well, where tournaments all over the world have been cancelled. However, chess online has grown exponentially during this period as tournaments and other chess events have been organized online. This has certainly been positive for chess, as it is a perfect sport to follow online!
The time for chess across the physical board is back!
This year’s Altibox Norway Chess tournament will be different, but nothing short of exciting! It will be a double round-robin tournament with six players:
Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
Fabiano Caruana (USA)
Levon Aronian (Armenia)
Anish Giri (The Netherlands)
Alireza Firouzja (FIDE) and
Aryan Tari (Norway)
The first round starts October 5 and ends on October 16. There are two free days (Oct. 9 and 14).
We can’t wait to bring these incredible chess players back together for some exciting chess matches! The Armageddon games that we introduced last year will continue as it turned out to be a major success.
Players will get following points per round:
Victory main game: 3 points
Loss main game: 0 points
Draw main game & victory Armageddon: 1.5 points
Draw main game & loss Armageddon: 1 point
Team Altibox Norway Chess have prepared for the tournament to be safe for players, teams and other crew members.
You can follow the Altibox Norway Chess tournament on chess24.com and on TV 2 Sport/Sumo.
Comments from Peter Doggers:
https://www.chess.com/news/view/norw...ts-coronavirus
The players on the original list of participants who are no longer participating are GMs Ding Liren, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wesley So, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
The reason for this is that some of the players are prevented from entering Norway due to border restrictions related to COVID-19. Benedicte Westre Skog, project manager for the tournament, explained:
"The Norwegian border is open for people with passports from the EU or Schengen member countries or for people that have a residence permit in EU/Schengen. So, unfortunately, Ding, Mamedyarov, Nepomniachtchi, and So are not able to participate because of this."
The reasons that Caruana can play are that he has a dual passport (Italy as well as the U.S.) and he plans to be in Germany ahead of the tournament, a country from where people can travel to Norway without a 10-day quarantine period.
"I'm not too concerned because Norway is one of the least affected countries and the tournament is not especially big," Caruana said. "I'm sure the organizers will be responsible and take any necessary precautions."
According to the organizers, all players have signed their contract, but yesterday Giri tweeted: "I have indeed signed the contract of participation under the condition that the COVID-19 situation will be safe. I have not yet confirmed my participation to organizers, due to safety concerns."
Right now, travelers from most EU countries, including the Netherlands, arriving in Norway from abroad need to be in quarantine for 10 days. That means Giri would need to travel to Norway on September 26 at the latest.
The top Dutch grandmaster told Chess.com that such a quarantine period is "one of many things to take into account" before making a final decision to play. He emphasized that if both the Netherlands and Norway are declared relatively safe around that time, without travel restrictions and such, he would have no reason not to play.
For Norway, France falls in the same category as the Netherlands. Firouzja, who lives in France, will have to follow the quarantine requirement. Vachier-Lagrave could have participated under the same conditions but is not playing as he felt the tournament would be too close to the Candidates tournament.
Now that the Sinquefield Cup has been quietly canceled as well, Norway Chess will be the first super tournament since March, when the coronavirus started to cause global lockdowns. The strongest tournament held this summer was the Biel Masters, where players were playing with plexiglass between them or with face masks.
It's not clear yet if that will be the case in Stavanger, but Norway Chess will have its measures as well. Besides the 10-day quarantine for players, their team members, and crew (which can be done at the hotel), the number of people at the playing venue will be limited.
"There will also be a limitation on the physical audience; possibly there will be no physical audience at all," said Skog.
August 20, 2020
From the official site:
https://norwaychess.no/en/2020/08/19...t-post-corona/
The world as we know it has changed and people all over the world are facing challenging times. Sport events of all types have been cancelled as we together have been distancing ourselves to avoid the spread of the virus. For chess, this has been the case as well, where tournaments all over the world have been cancelled. However, chess online has grown exponentially during this period as tournaments and other chess events have been organized online. This has certainly been positive for chess, as it is a perfect sport to follow online!
The time for chess across the physical board is back!
This year’s Altibox Norway Chess tournament will be different, but nothing short of exciting! It will be a double round-robin tournament with six players:
Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
Fabiano Caruana (USA)
Levon Aronian (Armenia)
Anish Giri (The Netherlands)
Alireza Firouzja (FIDE) and
Aryan Tari (Norway)
The first round starts October 5 and ends on October 16. There are two free days (Oct. 9 and 14).
We can’t wait to bring these incredible chess players back together for some exciting chess matches! The Armageddon games that we introduced last year will continue as it turned out to be a major success.
Players will get following points per round:
Victory main game: 3 points
Loss main game: 0 points
Draw main game & victory Armageddon: 1.5 points
Draw main game & loss Armageddon: 1 point
Team Altibox Norway Chess have prepared for the tournament to be safe for players, teams and other crew members.
You can follow the Altibox Norway Chess tournament on chess24.com and on TV 2 Sport/Sumo.
Comments from Peter Doggers:
https://www.chess.com/news/view/norw...ts-coronavirus
The players on the original list of participants who are no longer participating are GMs Ding Liren, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wesley So, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
The reason for this is that some of the players are prevented from entering Norway due to border restrictions related to COVID-19. Benedicte Westre Skog, project manager for the tournament, explained:
"The Norwegian border is open for people with passports from the EU or Schengen member countries or for people that have a residence permit in EU/Schengen. So, unfortunately, Ding, Mamedyarov, Nepomniachtchi, and So are not able to participate because of this."
The reasons that Caruana can play are that he has a dual passport (Italy as well as the U.S.) and he plans to be in Germany ahead of the tournament, a country from where people can travel to Norway without a 10-day quarantine period.
"I'm not too concerned because Norway is one of the least affected countries and the tournament is not especially big," Caruana said. "I'm sure the organizers will be responsible and take any necessary precautions."
According to the organizers, all players have signed their contract, but yesterday Giri tweeted: "I have indeed signed the contract of participation under the condition that the COVID-19 situation will be safe. I have not yet confirmed my participation to organizers, due to safety concerns."
Right now, travelers from most EU countries, including the Netherlands, arriving in Norway from abroad need to be in quarantine for 10 days. That means Giri would need to travel to Norway on September 26 at the latest.
The top Dutch grandmaster told Chess.com that such a quarantine period is "one of many things to take into account" before making a final decision to play. He emphasized that if both the Netherlands and Norway are declared relatively safe around that time, without travel restrictions and such, he would have no reason not to play.
For Norway, France falls in the same category as the Netherlands. Firouzja, who lives in France, will have to follow the quarantine requirement. Vachier-Lagrave could have participated under the same conditions but is not playing as he felt the tournament would be too close to the Candidates tournament.
Now that the Sinquefield Cup has been quietly canceled as well, Norway Chess will be the first super tournament since March, when the coronavirus started to cause global lockdowns. The strongest tournament held this summer was the Biel Masters, where players were playing with plexiglass between them or with face masks.
It's not clear yet if that will be the case in Stavanger, but Norway Chess will have its measures as well. Besides the 10-day quarantine for players, their team members, and crew (which can be done at the hotel), the number of people at the playing venue will be limited.
"There will also be a limitation on the physical audience; possibly there will be no physical audience at all," said Skog.
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