We have not yet created a website for the tournament; the next step for us is to open a bank account for managing the budget with Brønshøj Skakforening, who is our partner in the organising of the tournament. Once we have a bank account, we are able to accept entries.
So far we have handshake agreement of participation from Grandmasters Sabino Brunello, Lars Schandorff, Julen Arizmendi and Carsten Høi. We have invited 4-5 other GMs and the goal is to have 7 or 8 grandmasters participating. Renier Castellanos and Raluca Sgircea have also entered. Most GMs invited will be roughly 2500.
The rating requirement is 2100 to participate. We are giving out a few wild cards to players 2000-2100 rated, like a Danish junior and a member since the inception. If you are interested in a wild card, we will make a list and let people know by 15th August if they make the cut.
We will host the tournament in Øbro Skakforening, close to Trianglen Metro Station in Copenhagen, 14-22 October 2023.
Entry fee is €200 for non-invited players, including IMs. We have decided to run the tournament at a significant loss, but make the chances for IM and GM norms significant.
The rounds starts 15.00 on the 14th, 12 on the 16th and 11 on the 22nd. All other rounds start at 13.00.
The time control will be 75m to first 40 moves and then 30m to the end of the game, with 30 seconds increment throughout.
No draw offers before move 40.
Prizes will NOT be shared. There will be 5 cash prizes (more later) based on the top prizes in big opens in Scandinavia with 100s of participants and big sponsors. There will be €4000 in book or ebook prizes sponsored by Quality Chess, which will be sent to the winners after the event.
Tie-breaks will be complicated (promise!), with draws before move 40 immediately putting you at the back of the pack.
We will have some side events, but not many. A blitz event and a lecture. We will generally be a group going out for dinner a few nights and if people want to join, we will organise it the day before and book a table.
I (Jacob) will be at the tournament most of the time, happy to go over games and discuss training tips and similar with members.
First in line to enter will be members of the academy, then two local clubs and then by mid-May it will be open to everyone.
We look forward to see you in person at a chess party in Copenhagen, Oct 2023. We are talking about having a tournament on Crete in 2024, open to everyone.