The tournament is arranged with the support of Rietumu Bank in the gallery of the bank’s headquarters – Rietumu Capital Centre. The prize fund will amount USD 75 thousand.
The international tournament in Riga is organised by the Association of Chess Professionals jointly with the Latvian Chess Federation. The venue for the competitions is provided by Rietumu Bank, which has one of the best premises in Riga for hosting exhibitions, vernissages, auctions and other cultural and intellectual events. The bank is also participating in the financing of the tournament.
Latvia will be represented at the competitions by grandmaster Alexei Shirov, the prize winner of many of the biggest international tournaments and a contender for the title of World Chess Champion, as well as the current Latvian Champion Igor Kovalenko.
Other participants are: the World Champion 2002 Ruslan Ponomaryov (Ukraine), the Russian Champion and the World Blitz Champion Alexander Grishchuk (Russia), the World Rapid Chess Champion 2013 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), the three-time Chess960 World Champion Peter Svidler (Russia), the semi-finalist of the World Championship 2004 Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), the winner of the World Team Championship 2010 in Team Russia Vladimir Malakhov (Russia), the two-time winner of the world championships in Team Russia Alexander Morozevich, the European Rapid Chess Champion 2008 Polish grandmaster Radosław Wojtaszek, the two-time winners of the World Chess Olympics in Team Ukraine Vasily Ivanchuk and Pavel Elyanov, the French grandmaster Laurent Fressinet, the European Champion 2012 Dmitry Yakovenko (Russia), the European Champion 2013 Alexander Moiseyenko (Ukraine), the World Rapid Chess Vice-Champion 2013 Yan Nepomnyashchy (Russia).
The current average rating of the participants exceeds 2730. Three participants have a rapid chess rating of above 2800 and are among the six strongest in the world.
According to the Deputy Chairman of the Rietumu Bank Council Arkady Suharenko, “When taking the decision to support this tournament, Rietumu Bank was guided by an intention to remind everyone about the longstanding tradition which made Riga one of the centres of European and world chess. We would like to assist and give it a new impulse, to attract attention and interest in this great game among the youth. Judging by my observations and life experience, I can conclude that the qualities that chess culture trains in a person are very much required in serious business; they are useful and significant for the success in life of a modern person. And, certainly, it is a great honour for us that the entire tournament will take place here – in the Rietumu Bank building.”
The tournament will be held according to the Olympic system. The starting number of the players will be determined in accordance with the FIDE rating as of 1 September. The drawing procedure will go as follows: the first four participants, according to the rating, will play against the last four. Correspondingly, numbers 5 to 8 will get opponents from numbers 9 to 12.
Each match will consist of two games with the control time of 25 minutes per each player for the entire game plus 10 seconds for each move made. In the event of a draw, two fast games will be played with the control time of 3 minutes per each player for the entire game plus 2 seconds for each move made. If the winner is still not defined, the Armageddon game will be played, where the whites have 5 minutes for a game, during which they have to win, and the blacks have 4 minutes for the game, with a draw being sufficient for them to win the match.
The total prize fund of the tournament is USD 75 thousand. The winner will receive USD 14 thousand, the finalist – USD 9 thousand, the two semi-finalists – USD 6 thousand, quarter-finalists – USD 4 thousand, and those who leave in the first round – USD 3 thousand.
The opening of the tournament will take place on 12 September; the first round will be on 13 September, quarter-finals – on 14 September, semi-finals and the finals – on 15 September.
The venue of the games is the gallery of the Rietumu Bank headquarters in Riga at 7 Vesetas St., the ground floor.
The programme of the tournament can be found here or http://www.acp-cup.com Live broadcast of the games can be watched here . On the Latvian Chess Federation The Latvian Chess Union was founded on 13 April 1924, and in 1927, when Latvia took part in the World Chess Olympics for the first time, it became an FIDE member. Upon the restoration of Latvian independence, the union resumed its activities in 1991, having resumed its status at FIDE, and later it also became a member of the European Chess Federation (ECU). In 2010 the union was renamed as the Latvian Chess Federation. Eleonora Gailisha Mass Media and Public Relations
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