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Tasmanian Winter Chess Festival


  • Menai Hotel Motel & Function Centre (map)

Tasmanian Winter Chess Festival

The Tasmanian Winter Chess Festival offers two days of chess competition and learning for players of all skill levels. The festival features a FIDE rated rapid tournament, variant blitz tournaments, and a lecture by Grandmaster Anton Smirnov. Participants can also challenge GM Anton Smirnov in a simultaneous tournament, where multiple people will play him at the same time.

SCHEDULE:

Saturday July 6th:

  • Entries Close - 12:55 pm

  • Opening Ceremony - 1:00pm (please arrive in time for this)

  • Rapid Rounds 1-4

    • Round One - 1:30 pm

    • Round Two - 2:00 pm

    • Round Three - 2:30 pm

    • Round Four - 3:00 pm

  • Break (~60 minutes)

  • King of the Hill Blitz - 4:30 pm

  • Simultaneous - 5:30 pm

  • Venue will stay open until 9:30pm for casual games.

SUNDAY July 7th

  • Mayhem Blitz Tournaments

    • Round One - 9:30 am

    • Round Two - 9:55 am

    • Round Three - 10:20 am

    • Round Four - 10:45 am

  • Lecture - 11:10 am

  • Break (~40 minutes)

  • Rapid Rounds 5-7

    • Round Five - 12:50 pm

    • Round Six - 1:20 pm

    • Round Seven - 1:50 pm

  • Prize Ceremony

FESTIVAL Events Details:

MAIN EVENT Rapid

The rapid will be a 7 round tournament with a time control of 10 minutes and 2 second increment. It will be both FIDE rated and ACF rated.

MAYHEM Blitz

The mayhem blitz will be a tournament where the board starts from a different set position each round. The position will be an even position, with lots of imbalances. You will play your opponent twice, once as white and once as black. The starting position will be given 2 minutes before each round begins. The time control will be 3 minutes with 2 seconds increment.

King of the Hill Blitz

The king of the hill blitz will be a blitz tournament following King of the Hill rules. It is the same as normal chess, but you can also win by getting your king to the central 4 squares (e4, e5, d4 and d5). The time control will be 3 minutes with 2 seconds increment.

LECTURE

Grandmaster Anton Smirnov will be giving a lecture. All ages and skill levels are welcome. The lecture will go for approximately an hour.

Simultaneous

Grandmaster Anton Smirnov will be giving a simultaneous against 30 players. Please note entry to this is separate to main festival entry.

Entry and costs

All entries must be done online.

Entry to the main festival will be $65 for all competitors. This will guarantee entry to all events.

Entries to the simultaneous will be FREE to all, thanks to an anonymous sponsor paying for the costs of running it, please sign up for it below if you would like to enter as there are only 40 seats available.

You do not need to be playing in the main tournament to play in the Simultaneous, sign ups to the simul are free but still required.

PRIZES AND FURTHER DETAILS:

The prize pool is currently $4250, for more details on the prizes and other details find them over on the events dedicated website click here to find out more.

Earlier Event: June 29
2024 TASMANIAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Later Event: August 17
TASMANIAN RAPID CHAMPIONSHIPS