The Bank Pivdenny ready to organize the 2nd ACP World Rapid Cup 2008 in Odessa
The Bank Pivdenny has officially announced its eagerness to stage the 2nd ACP World Rapid Cup in January 2008.
Proposal of the Bank Pivdenny:
The Bank Pivdenny and the Association of Chess Professionals will both organize the event. The total prize fund will amount to 136,000 $US. 16 participants will take part in this KO tournament. The time control will be 20 minutes with an increment of 5 seconds for each move. Best players of the 3rd ACP Tour 2006/07 (http://www.chess-players.org/eng/tour/tour_2006/standings.html ) will be entitled to take part.
The 1st ACP World Rapid Cup took place in Odessa from January 3rd to 8th 2007 in the Hotel Londonskaya and was very successful. Peter Leko from Hungary emerged as the winner. The number of spectators on the spot exceeded 10,000, whereas the number of visitors on the official website of the Rapid Cup amounted to around 150,000 from nearly 100 countries.
The official website of the ACP Wolrd Rapid Cup will be http://www.worldcup.pivdenny.com/
Is this a joke? $136,000 for rapid? What happen to real chess?
I hope Nakamura gets to play. He is so good in fast chess.
Since Topalov is not in the list. Does this mean that he never gets to play in the ACP Rapids ( whatever his performance is in other ACP tornaments) ?