"The Internet Chess Club was the foundation of my great interest in chess and I thank it for introducing me to the chess world." — anonymous scholastic player, New York
Starting August 4, and running until August 12, you will have a chance
to win a trip to be a VIP guest at the the World Championships in Mexico City
In a very exciting finale to our Mainz Chess960 qualifier last week,
the young Armenian GM Tigran L. Petrosian defeated American No.1
GM Gata Kamsky, 4-2, to claim the top prize. I'm sure all at the
ICC will closely be following Tigran's progress in Mainz, and take
this opportunity to wish our online qualifier 'good luck'.
Now, after the huge record-breaking success of our Mainz qualifier,
there comes another bigger and better qualifier - and exclusive
ONLY for full ICC members!
We have joined forces with the organizers of the forthcoming World
Championship tournament in Mexico City for yet another unique online
qualifier package. Starting August 4, and running until August 12,
you will have a chance to win a trip to be a VIP guest at the the
World Championships in Mexico City from September 13 until September 17,
with a ringside seat to watch all the action involving Kramnik, Anand,
Morozevich, Aronian, Grischuk, Leko, Svidler and Gelfand.
The package for the overall winner includes: $1500USD (to be paid out
only on arrival in Mexico) to cover your airfares and other expenses.
Also included in the package is 4 nights (13-17 Sept.) at a top hotel
in Mexico City, plus VIP tickets for the World Championships, and free
entry into the "Copa Internacional de la Cd. De Mexico" Open.
0. PLAYING SCHEDULE
There will be six qualifiers to the knockout finals. You can play in
as many qualifiers as you like. All qualifiers will have 9 rounds,
swiss pairings. The games are rated in the Blitz category.
Latejoining is possible until round 6, but half point byes are only
available for the first three rounds. The time control will be 3 0
in the whole tournament.
The final of the last 32 players will take place on Saturday, August 11th,
2pm and the final of the last 8 players will take place on Sunday,
August 12th, 2pm. All times are server time (EDT, New York Time).
Type "date" on ICC and compare to your local time.
The winner of the tournament will receive USD 1500 in cash, VIP tickets to
the World Championship in Mexico City for the duration of his stay there,
and a paid hotel room for 4 nights at either Sheraton Centro Histórico or
Camino Real starting September 13, check-out September 17. The winner will
also take part in the Open tournament "Copa Internacional de la Cd. De México"
held in Mexico City at that time (September 14-16, 6 rounds Swiss, 2 per day).
NOTE: that airfare is not included, and the prize of USD 1500 will only be
awarded by the organizing committee upon arrival in Mexico. The winner must
be able to travel to Mexico and advance the money for the trip.
In case the winner cannot travel to Mexico, the first prize will be awarded
to the runner up. In case also the runner up cannot travel, the first prize
will be offered to the player who lost to the later winner in the semifinals,
and after that to the other semifinalist. In those cases, the winner will
only receive the cash prize which the player who eventually travels to Mexico
originally won.
Second place will receive USD 750 in cash. Third and fourth place will receive
USD 375 in cash each.
In addition, there will be prizes raffled between all participants who
finish a qualifier, for EVERY qualifier. four 3-months ICC extensions per
qualifier, giving a total of 72 months just for playing. Note that in order
to be eligible for the raffle, (a) the qualifier must be finished orderly
(not forfeited), (b) the player did not qualify for the finals, and (c) the
account used is a paid one.
On top of this, there will be prizes for the players who score most points
over all qualifiers but do not qualify for the finals:
Should GM/IMs win membership extensions, they can donate those extensions
to other players of their choice.
Cash prizes other than first prize will be paid by cheque. Other payment
methods require the approval of ICC. The first prize will be paid upon
arrival of the winner in Mexico.
ICC reserves the right to use image and name of winner(s) from
their online events for publicity purposes
3. TOURNAMENT SYSTEM
The top five players from each of the six qualifiers will advance to
the knockout finals. In case of a tie, the usual tiebreaks of Tomato
tournaments will apply. They are described in detail in
"tell tomato help tie". In addition, one seat will go to the winner
of a qualifier held on World Chess Live and another seat will be
awarded to the player who scores most points in all six qualifiers
on ICC together.
In case two or more players reach the same total score over all
qualifiers, the player with the best place in his best qualifier
advances. The standings in the series of all qualifiers together
can be seen by typing:
/tell pear ser b mexico
Players can take part in as many qualifiers as they want to. In case
a player who is already qualified reaches the top five in another qualifier,
his seat will be awarded to the next best player.
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:
1-32, 16-17, 8-25, 9-24, 4-29, 13-20, 5-28, 12-21, 2-31, 15-18, 7-26, 10-23,
3-30, 14-19, 6-27, 11-22.
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 after
that, another two games follow, and in case it is 4-4 then, the tournament
director will determine colors in a single decisive game to follow by tossing
a coin. Should that game be drawn, another game with opposite colors will be
played. If drawn again, the procedure will be repeated. In the final of the
last two, the match will have six games. Again, if the match is tied 3-3,
another two games will be played, and if still tied, yet another two games.
Should the final be at 5-5 after ten games, a single decisive game will be
played, with colors determined by coin toss. See above for the case that
single game is drawn.
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).
4. HOW TO TAKE PART
No preregistration is necessary for this tournament.
Show up about 10 minutes before the scheduled start and type
/tell pear join 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. Participants will
automatically be placed in this channel.
During the tournament, the standings and pairings will be available at
the following websites:
Those sites show updated info when the refresh button is pressed.
You need to have a full ICC membership to take part in this tournament.
Free trials cannot play. As the real names of the finalists will be made
public, players who own free GM/WGM/IM/WIM accounts on ICC are required
to use their public handles in this tournament, as opposed to anonymous
accounts.
You need to use either a recent version of Blitzin or Dasher to play
in this tournament. Download the last version here:
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ICC Help: mexico2007