Riga Chess federation has a pleasure to announce the Latvian Railway Open, one of the strongest rapid chess opens in the World.
The tournament will be held on 28-30 March, 2014, at the Latvian railway museum in Riga, Latvia. The tournament will be held in three groups A, B and C.
The festival will feature leading Latvian grandmasters as well as very strong foreign grandmasters and chess lovers from all around the world.
Tournament A is 14 round Swiss with the time control 15 minutes for each player plus 6 seconds increment for each move. First round on 28th of March 2014 at 17.30 hours, last round on 30th of March at 15.00 hours.
The total prize fund is 10000 EUR.
Main prizes: EUR 1. 1400; 2. 1000; 3. 700; 4. 600; 5. 550; 6. 500; 7. 450; 8. 400; 9. 350; 10. 300; 11. 250; 12-16. 200; 17-22. 150.
There are also special prizes for best women, Latvian players, veterans, juniors and elo groups.
Tournament B is reserved mainly for players rated 1875-2324. Games will be played March 28-30.
Time control is 12 minutes plus 5 seconds per move; Swiss system; 12 rounds. The prize fund will be 80% of all entry fees.
Tournament C is reserved for players rated less than 1875. Games will be played March. 28-30.
Time control is 12 minutes plus 5 seconds per move; Swiss system; 12 rounds. The prize fund will be 75% of all entry fees. The entry fee is 20 Euros.
Registration requests: Riga Chess federation executive director Artur Mihailov at termo-eko@balticom.lv
Participants (top seeds):
1 GM Malakhov Vladimir RUS 2777
2 GM Shirov Alexei LAT 2742
3 GM Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2722
4 GM Zhigalko Sergei BLR 2704
5 GM Bologan Viktor MDA 2680
6 GM Van Wely Loek NED 2679
7 GM Lysyj Igor RUS 2675
8 GM Kovalenko Igor LAT 2653
9 GM Fridman Daniel GER 2649
10 GM Navara David CZE 2648
11 GM Azarov Sergei BLR 2646
12 GM Gleizerov Evgeny RUS 2623
13 GM Dobrov Vladimir RUS 2604
14 GM Neiksans Arturs LAT 2595
15 GM Sumets Andrey UKR 2577
16 GM Aleksandrov Aleksej BLR 2571
17 GM Shariyazdanov Andrey RUS 2570
18 GM Sulskis Sarunas LTU 2562
19 GM Ulibin Mikhail RUS 2559
20 GM Spraggett Kevin CAN 2557
21 GM Al-Modiahki Mohamad QAT 2547
22 GM Oparin Grigoriy RUS 2545
23 GM Sveshnikov Evgeny LAT 2534
24 GM Miezis Normunds LAT 2493
25 IM Krivonosov Oleg LAT 2490
26 GM Solozhenkin Evgeniy RUS 2459
27 GM Starostits Ilmars LAT 2448
28 GM Zhu Chen QAT 2438
29 IM Sakalauskas Vaidas LTU 2427
30 IM Carlstedt Jonathan GER 2329
31 GM Petkevich Jusefs LAT 2328
Very strong.