Groningen Chess Festival
21st to 30th December at the Sportcentrum Rijksuniversiteit and Hanzehogeschool in Groningen, Netherlands
The Groningen Chess Festival is set to take place from 21st to 30th December at the Sportcentrum Rijksuniversiteit & Hanzehogeschool in Groningen, Netherlands. The Festival is traditionally organized around Christmas and runs for 47 consecutive years.
The Festival consists of Open A with the prize fund of 6500 EUR, Open B (1700-2200 elo, 2000 EUR), Open C (U1800 elo, 1000 EUR) and Groningen Compact, a five-round swiss event from 26th to 30th December.
Top rated players in the Open A are GM Vladimir Baklan UKR 2613, GM Abhijeet Gupta IND 2600, GM Sipke Ernst NED 2590, GM Mark Bluvshtein CAN 2585, GM Zaven Andriasian ARM 2585, GM Friso Nijboer NED 2583, GM Jan Werle NED 2578, GM Dejan Bojkov BUL 2542 and GM Arkadij Rotstein GER 2538.
In addition, a number of the young stars are also participating, 18-years old GM Peter Prohaszka HUN 2536, 14-years old IM Illya Nyzhnyk UKR 2535, 15-years old IM Benjamin Bok NED 2458, 16-years old IM Robin van Kampen NED 2454, 15-years old IM Sahaj Grover IND 2432 and 15-years old FM Daniel Naroditsky USA 2425.
It’s a nice city to play chess.