Chess 960 Internet Championship 2008

Finals Results

Second seed GM Hikaru Nakamura (Smallville) of the USA reasserted his authority as one of the top dogs on ICC on Sunday by winning the Mainz Chess Classic online Chess960 title. After winning the first qualifier, Nakamura beat with ease Cassano (3-0), VerdeNotte (2.5-0.5) and Yarosavich (3-0) en route to the six-game final. And in a more closely contested final, Nakamura beat the young Russian top seed Dmitry Andreikin, 4-2, to claim the $1090 (700 Euro) first prize, invitation to the FiNet and Ordix opens, hotel room and breakfast at the Hilton Mainz Hotel by the banks of the Rhine, just 1 block from the picturesque Old Town. All of last week, qualifiers were held here on ICC for the coveted spots in the 16-player KO Mainz Chess Classic online Chess960 finals. The full list of finalists and results can be found below or at our dedicated Mainz Chess960 page.

Download games from the finals in PGN format

Qualifier Results

Qualifier 1 (for tournament chart "tell pear grid 860"):

1. Smallville
2. DSquared
3. TRADE
4. WhiteHero

3-months extensions: Lucas, cropotkin, J-ODonnell
$25 vouchers: Wreckmaster, Womacka, Emrebey

Qualifier 2 (for tournament chart "tell pear grid 861"):

1. CapitalG
2. SpinalTap
3. Nezybullev
4. RadSAS

3-months extensions: xray77, AndrewGreet, Zipang
$25 vouchers: RadSAS, Barti, sorinc

Qualifier 3 (for tournament chart "tell pear grid 862"):

1. lestri(GM)
2. Otero2006(IM)
3. Danya(FM)
4. Cassano

3-months extensions: kimchi1, SenatorTruth, Argus2006.
$25 vouchers: realggg, f5kinley, bandit

Qualifier 4 (tournament chart)

1. zdr
2. VerdeNotte
3. Yarosavich
4. Daki

3-months extensions: Lone-Tiger, cakedecorater, akibael.
$25 vouchers: ah60, frank001, Voje.

About the Championship

The Internet Chess Club, in conjunction with Chess Tigers, organizers of the popular annual Mainz Chess Classic in Germany, are pleased to present the 2nd Chess 960 Internet Championship! After the big success of last years tourney (see below), we will have a separate human section and a computer section this year.

The time control will be 3 1 in the Human Section, and 5 5 in the Computer Section. All qualifiers will have 9 rounds, swiss pairings. The games are rated in the Wild category. Latejoining is possible until round 6, but half point byes are only available for the first three rounds.

Playing Schedule Human Section

There will be four qualifiers to the knockout finals. You can play in as many qualifiers as you like.

- Qualifier 1: Tuesday, June 17, 6pm
- Qualifier 2: Wednesday, June 18, 3pm
- Qualifier 3: Thursday, June 19, 2pm
- Qualifier 4: Friday, June 20, 4pm

- Finals: Sunday, June 22, 3pm

Playing Schedule Computer Section

There will be one qualifier on Friday, June 27, 1pm. The finals will take
place on Saturday, June 28, 3pm.

Prizes

HUMAN SECTION:

- 1st prize: 700 Euro + Free entry to FiNet and Ordix + Hotel and breakfast at Mainz
- 2nd prize: 350 Euro + Free entry to FiNet and Ordix + Hotel and breakfast at Mainz
- 3rd/4th prize: 125 Euro + Free entry to FiNet and Ordix
- 5th-8th prize: 1 year ICC membership extension
- 9th-16th prize: 3 months ICC membership extension

Should GM/IMs win membership extensions, they can donate those extensions to other players of their choice. Should the winner be unable to accept the invitation to the Mainz tournament, it will be awarded to the next best player.

Moreover, in EACH qualifier, three 3-month ICC memberships and three $25-vouchers for the ICC store will be raffled amongst all players who finish that qualifier orderly.

Although trial members to ICC can play in the Chess960 Mainz Qualifiers, anyone winning a prize will only be able to claim it after signing-up to ICC for a full membership.

COMPUTER SECTION:

- 1st prize: 300 Euro + a place in the Livingston Chess960 Computer World Championship + Hotel and breakfast at Mainz
- 2nd prize: 200 Euro + a place the in Livingston Chess960 Computer World Championship + Hotel and breakfast at Mainz

Note that the first and second prizes in both sections will only be paid on arrival at the tournament in Mainz. Moreover, the two prizewinners of the computer section must be represented by the programmer of the engine during the tournament in Mainz.

How to join the tournaments

No preregistration is necessary for this tournament. This event is only open to ICC members and to those who sign up for a free trial 7-day membership of the ICC - so don't delay, sign-up at www.chessclub.com today!

Show up about 10 minutes before the scheduled start and type "tell pear join" (human section) or "tell automato join" (computer section) or click on the entry button in your event list. Disconnecting before the start will remove you from the tournament. If you disconnect after the start, you will not be removed automatically, but you need to return as soon as possible, or the manager will forfeit you. You can follow the tournament in channel 227 (or 226 for the computer section). Participants will automatically be placed in those channels.

You need to have an ICC membership to take part in this tournament, or a free trial. You need to use the most recent version of Blitzin or Dasher to play in the human section of this tournament.

You may use any interface in the computer section of this tournament. You need a (C)omputer user name on ICC in order to take part in the computer section of this tournament.

Tournament System

The time control will be 3 1 in the human section, and 5 5 in the computer section. In the human section, the top four players from each of the four qualifiers will advance to the knockout finals. In the computer section, the top eight players in the qualifier will advance to the knockout finals. In case of ties in the qualifiers, the Tomato tiebreak-system will be employed. To learn about this, type "tell tomato help tie" on ICC.

In the knockout finals, "mini-matches" of four games will be played and if a tie occurs after that, two more games will be played. If still tied, another two games will be played, but at the reduced time control of 2 0. If still tied after that, another two games will be played at a time control of 1 0. This continues until a decision is reached. In the final of the last two, the match will have six games. In the case of a 3-3 tie, the procedure will be as above. Any match in the finals ends before four (six) games are played, if one player has 2.5 points or more (3.5 or more in the final of the last two).

Finalists will be sorted by the ICC Blitz rating they had when they played their qualifier. The grid will display the following pairings (top to bottom) and qualifiers who go through to the next round will be paired accordingly: 1-16, 8-9, 5-12, 4-13, 3-14, 6-11, 7-10, 2-15 and similar for the computer section.

How to play Chess960 on the ICC

Chess960 is a name for Bobby Fischer's new and improved version of "Randomized Chess". Chess960 uses algebraic notation exclusively At the start of every game of a Chess960 game, both players Pawns are set up exactly as they are at the start of every game of Classical Chess. In Chess960 just before the start of every game, both players pieces on their respective back rows receive an identical random shuffle decided by the ICC server, which is programmed to set up the pieces in any combination, with the provisos that one Rook has to be to the left and one Rook has to be to the right of the King, and one Bishop has to be on a lightcolored square and one Bishop has to be on a dark-colored square. White and Black have identical positions. From behind their respective Pawns the opponents pieces are facing each other directly, symmetrically. Thus for example, if the server places White's back row pieces in the following position: Ra1, Bb1, Kc1, Nd1, Be1, Nf1, Rg1, Qh1, it will place Black's back row Pieces in the following position, Ra8, Bb8, Kc8, Nd8, Be8, Nf8, Rg8, Qh8, etc.

To play a game of Chess960 on the ICC, type "seek w22" to issue a seek, or "match Fred w22" to offer a game to a specific player (Fred for example).

Castling is basically the same as in regular chess, except the king and rook may start on different squares from regular chess. The king and rook end up on the same squares as in regular chess, for example, c1 and d1, or g1 and f1 for White. All the other usual castling rules apply (you cannot castle out of or into check, squares the king passes over or onto cannot be attacked by the opponent or occupied by pieces, squares the rook passes over or onto cannot be occupied, and you can't have moved the king or rook previously).

A strange example of castling is that if your king and rook start out on b1 and a1, you can castle "queenside" resulting in the king moving to c1 and the rook to d1! But you can't make the move just by moving your king from b1 to c1, because that will be interpretted as a king move.

If your king is moving fewer than two squares when it castles, you can make the move by typing "OO" (or "oo" or "O-O") for kingside castling or "OOO" (or "ooo" or"O-O-O") for queenside castling. If you are using BlitzIn 2.6+ or Dasher 1.1.2+ you can also castle by dragging the king on top of the rook you are castling with. These methods work for any castling situation. If your king is moving two squares or more, you can just move the king and it will be understood that you intend to castle.

Miscellaneous Rules

During the human section tournament, the most recent version of Blitzin or Dasher must be used. A player must not enter a section on more than one account, or risk being forfeited on both accounts.

The ICC tournament directors may at their discretion make a ruling on a particular game, eject a player from a tournament, or refuse to allow a player to join a tournament for any reason including but not limited to: failure to show up on time or to start a game on time, concern that the player's internet connection is not reliable enough for the game to finish in a timely manner, suspicion of chess computer use, suspicion that a player is receiving assistance (human section), suspicion that a player has used multiple accounts during the tournament, or the fact that this player has been caught violating ICC rules in the past.

Their reasoning need not be given, and there is no appeals process. We appreciate the cooperation of all participants in keeping this contest friendly, honorable, and running smoothly.

Participants must use the same computer during the whole tournament, unless they are observed by an approved proctor.

In case a player is disqualified from the tournament, the ICC tournament directors can, at their discretion, rule that the game of that player in the running round is lost for him, and won for his opponent. However, results by that player in prior rounds will not be reverted.

Results from Previous Year — Chess960 Internet Championship 2007

For the first Chess960 Internet Championships 2007, see also: http://www.chessclub.com/resources/event/chess960/2007/

Prize winners

* Round trip ticket to Mainz + 600 Euros cash + room and breakfast at Hilton Mainz Hotel from August 15-20 and allowed to play BOTH tournaments for free: 6th FiNet Chess960 Open and 14th ORDIX Open.