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Sunday, 26 Apr 2020 16:12
Strongest Russian grandmasters in a charity tournament to benefit health workers

As the world goes through a global health crisis, chess stands out as a unique sport that has successfully resurfaced online to bring together professionals, amateurs, and fans around the world. Besides, chess can serve as an excellent platform for charity and collaboration. 

The Chess Federation of Russia and the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation will combine efforts to support the first charity online tournament, initiated by Russian chess players. The event, scheduled for May 12-14 will feature the country's strongest grandmasters.

The entire prize pool will be donated to regional hospitals and health workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants will determine the recipients of the donations beforehand, depending on the needs of a particular institution. The entire prize fund is distributed equally among the regions, regardless of the final standings.

The charity tournament features a stellar lineup: 

Vladimir Kramnik
Ian Nepomniachtchi 
Alexander Grischuk 
Sergey Karjakin 
Peter Svidler 
Evgeny Tomashevsky 
Ernesto Inarkiev 
Alexander Riazantsev  

It will be a double round-robin blitz event with time control 5 minutes plus a 2-second increment per move. GMs will first play a double round-robin part to determine the best four to qualify for a knockout play-off. 

Tournament Schedule:

May 12 – first half (7 rounds)
May 13 – second half (7 rounds)
May 14 - semifinals and a final. 

All the rounds start at 3 p.m. Moscow time.

The tournament is supported by the Ramax group of companiesMatch TV, a media partner of the tournament, will provide the coverage and live broadcast. The tournament will be played on Lichess.org, one of the most popular online chess platforms.

The amount raised so far: 2,505,000 rubles 

As the world goes through a global health crisis, chess stands out as a unique sport that has successfully resurfaced online to bring together professionals, amateurs, and fans around the world. Besides, chess can serve as an excellent platform for charity and collaboration. We invite all chess lovers to support this event!

Official information and details for bank transfers 

The 14th world champion Vladimir Kramnik gave an interview to Alexey Dospekhov, an observer of the Kommersant newspaper:

"Of course, we've discussed the current situation with fellow chess players and decided to organize a charity event. For well-known reasons, there are no sports competitions at the moment. Chess is one of the few sports, which can exist even in the present circumstances. There are a lot of online tournaments going on. But we wanted to organize not a commercial but a purely charitable competition. 

Our country is big and it is difficult to help everybody. Nevertheless, we want to do all we can. We see that large cities and regional centers are doing more or less OK. But the situation in the outlying regions is often much worse. In general, we want to help hospitals and doctors with protective suits, equipment, pharmaceuticals, and so on. This is how this tournament came into being."  

Vladimir Kramnik's interview to Kommersant (in Russian) 

CFR President Andrey Filatov

“Cooperation and help are very important in these times. I am very glad that the Russian chess players came up with such a wonderful initiative and will practically support the doctors, who are working in an emergency mode and fighting the virus on the frontline. This tournament will not only become an interesting event for chess fans, but also an important social activity. I wish the best of luck to our grandmasters!"

Official website of the Chess Federation of Russia 

Photo: Lennart Ootes

Contact information:

Eteri Kublashvili, Press service of the Chess Federation of Russia