ICC Open 2015

CONGRATULATONS TO GM ALEXANDER GRISCHUK, 2015 ICC Open Champion!



This year the ICC Open Blitz Tournament has changed owner!



The first three editions were won by GM Hikaru Nakamura; this year another great player grabbed the title: GM Alexander Grischuk from Russia.

The Open was an amazing event, with many strong GMs participating, and a plethora of IMs and FMs.

Last, but surely not least, the hundreds of ICCers who measured themselves against the tough guys!

*UPDATE* We have had LIVE commentary for the finals! IM Christof "Chessexplained" Sielecki, a regular content contributor for the ICC, went over the games live on ICCTV, with a nice crowd watching and kibitzing.

Here is the video!

Prizes in cash for all the 8 finalists, and impressive prizes in ICC FREE membership for the class winners!

The first two editions were won by GM Hikaru Nakamura. In the second edition Nakamura won a spectacular final against the young Armenian GM Simonian Hrair.



The ICC Open is an occasion to measure your strength against super-strong players and, why not, to win one of the great prizes. The qualifiers will be again held at 2 pm EDT and 7pm EDT on Friday and Saturday, to give every ICC member from all over the world a chance to participate in this awesome event.



Schedule

There will be four qualifiers. You can play in as many qualifiers as you like. All qualifiers will have 11 rounds, swiss pairings. The games are rated in the Blitz category. Latejoining is possible until round 8, but half point byes are only available for the first five rounds.

Qualifier 1: Friday, May 29, at 2pm

Qualifier 2: Friday, May 29, at 7pm

Qualifier 3: Saturday, May 30, at 2pm

Qualifier 4: Saturday, May 30, at 7pm

Finals: Sunday, May 31, at 2pm

All times are server time (EDT, New York Time, UTC/GMT -4 hours). Type "date" on ICC and compare to your local time.

Finals

¤ 1/4 Final 1/2 Final Final 1

8 Vladimirovich (2.0)

isodung (4.0) isodung (1.5)

Federicov (2.5) Federicov (2.5)

depressnyak (3.5) 4

5 BlitzorDDD (1.5)

Federicov (2.5) 2

7 depressnyak (3.0)

aplusk (1.0) depressnyak (2.5)

fireland (1.5) 3

6 Sibelephant (0.0)

fireland (3.0)



Download PGN from FINALS

ICC Open 2015: Qualifers results



Qualifier 1 - Manager Lisebeth | Friday 2pm

N ICC username Real name Rating Score 1 Vladimirovich GM Dmitry Andreikin 3281 9.5 2 fireland GM Abasov Nijat 3024 9.5









Download PGN from qualifier 1

Qualifier 2 - Manager jmedic | Friday 7pm

N ICC username Real name Rating Score 1 BlitzorDDD GM Daniil Dubov 3170 9.5 2 depressnyak GM Alexander Grischuk 3240 9.5











Download PGN from qualifier 2

Qualifier 3 - Manager Lisebeth | Saturday 2pm

N ICC username Real name Rating Score 1 Sibelephant GM Vladislav Artemiev 3178 10.0 2 Federicov GM Federico Perez Ponsa 3107 9.5











Download PGN from qualifier 3

Qualifier 4 - Manager RdgMx| Saturday 7pm

N ICC username Real name Rating Score 1 aplusk IM Alexander Moskalenko 2937 9.5 2 isodung GM David Larino Nieto 2799 9.5











Download PGN from qualifier 4

Tournament system

The top two players from each of the four qualifiers will advance to the knockout finals. In case of a tie, the usual tiebreaks of Tomato tournaments will apply. They are described in detail in "tell tomato help tie" ( when connected to our server ).

Players can take part in all qualifiers if they want to. In case a player who is already qualified reaches the top two in another qualifier, his/her seat will be awarded to the next best player.

Finalists will be sorted by the ICC Blitz rating they had when they played their qualifier. The grid will display the following pairings (top to bottom) and qualifiers who go through to the next round will be paired accordingly: 1-8, 4-5, 2-7, 3-6.

In the knockout finals, "mini-matches" of four games will be played and, if a tie occurs after that, two more games will be played. If still tied, another two games follow, and in case it goes to 4-4 then the tournament director will determine colors in a single, decisive game to follow by tossing a coin. Should that game be drawn, another game with opposite colors will be played. If drawn again, the procedure will be repeated. In the final of the last two, the match will have six games. Again, if the match is tied 3-3, another two games will be played, and if still tied, yet another two games. Should the final be at 5-5 after ten games, a single decisive game will be played, with colors determined by coin toss. See above for the case that single game is drawn.

A match in the finals ends before four (six) games are played, if one player has 2.5 points or more (3.5 or more in the final of the last two).

Prizes in Open

1st $ 3,500

2nd $ 1,500

3rd/4th $ 600 each

5th/8th $ 325 each

There will be no match to decide third place, both losing semifinalists receiving $600.

Same thing for 5th/8th, losing the quartefinals, all four receiving $ 325.

Class Prizes

WINNERS:

# Score Username Prize Under 2200 1st Place 7.5 The7thGuest 5 years 2nd Place 7 paulleon 3 years 3rd Place 7 DDT3000 2 years Under 2000 1st Place 7 waynerooney 5 years 2nd Place 7 pagoda 3 years 3rd Place 7 nadalthegreat 2 years Under 1800 1st Place 7 beaupre 5 years 2nd Place 6.5 juniorvishy 3 years 3rd Place 6.5 catman 2 years Under 1600 1st Place 5.5 airantrobo 5 years 2nd Place 5.5 munch 3 years 3rd Place 5.5 BennieHill 2 years

There will be no final for the classes (U2200, U2000, U1800, U1600). Instead, the winners of the cash prizes will be determined by comparing their respective best qualifier. For each class, the prizes are:

1st 5 years free ICC membership

2nd 3 years free ICC membership

3rd 2 years free ICC membership

The following tiebreaker will be used to determine the winners:

Score (in the best qualifier played) Average score of opponents played (in that best qualifier) Own blitz rating at start of the best qualifier, lower wins.

(1), (2) and (3) will be used as reported by the tournament bot after the qualifier finishes. In the unlikely case that there is still a tie after those tiebreaks, prizes will be split.

How to take part

No preregistration is necessary for this tournament. The fastest, easiest way to join regardless of your user interface is to login into our server about 10 minutes before the scheduled start:

DASHER users: Go to WINDOW->MY TOURNAMENTS->JOIN TOURNAMENT and click on the green join button next to the ICC OPEN tournament.

BLITZIN users: Go to WINDOW->EVENTS and in the list search for the ICC OPEN tournament, click on the green join button.

ICC for MAC and ICC for Windows users: Go to TOURNAMENTS and click on Join ICC OPEN Tournament

Disconnecting before the start will remove you from the tournament. If you disconnect after the start, you will not be removed automatically, but you need to return as soon as possible, or the manager will forfeit you. You can follow the tournament in channel 227. Participants will automatically be placed in this channel.

During the tournament, the standings and pairings will be available at websites which will be communicated after the start by the tournament manager. Those sites show updated info when the refresh button is pressed.

You need to have a full ICC membership to take part in this tournament. Free trials can play but cannot win prizes. As the real names of the finalists will be made public, players who own free GM/WGM/IM/WIM accounts on ICC are required to use their public handles in this tournament, as opposed to anonymous accounts.

You need to use a recent version of Blitzin, Dasher ICC for Windows or ICC for Mac to play in this tournament.

Tournament system

In order to prevent abuse of any type, ICC will implement strict rules regarding class prize eligibility. Please understand that in any case, the decision by ICC management regarding this is FINAL and cannot be appealed.

By entering the tournament, you acknowledge that you have read and understood these rules:

1. You can win only one class prize.

One player only wins the highest prize he achieves in any class he is eligible to. In case there are two prizes in the same amount a player could win, he wins the one in the highest rating class. To illustrate this, consider the following order:

Player Rating Best Score Player A 1950 8.0 Player B 2100 7.5 Player C 2150 7.0 Player D 1850 6.5 Here, Player A would be eligible to win the first prize in U2200 and U2000. He receives the first prize in U2200, and is disregarded in the U2000 standings. Player B thus finishes second in U2200, Player C finishes third in U2200, and Player D wins U2000. In contrast, in this situation:

Player Rating Best Score Player B 2100 8.0 Player A 1950 7.5 Player C 2150 7.0 Player D 1850 6.5

Player B here wins U2200, and Player A, although second in U2200, is disregarded in that class, as he wins U2000. Player C finishes second in U2200 and Player D finishes second in U2000.

2. Your blitz rating must be below the class limit at both the start of the qualifier and the reference date.

In order to minimize abuse, ICC requires that in order to be eligible for a class, the rating of a player must have been below the class limit not only when the tournament is played but also immediately before this tournament was announced, at the reference date. The reference date is May 3, 2015. Please note that this implies that your account must have existed on the reference date in order to be eligible for any class prizes.

3. You must have played at least 100 rated games in the Blitz category before the start of your qualifier.

4. Your best (Blitz) rating must not be more than 200 points over the class limit.

Best ratings achieved more than 3 years ago are disregarded for this rule. Instead, a best rating from within the last 3 years, as determined by the rating graph, will be used to establish eligibility. On the other hand, all best ratings you have achieved on previous accounts used by you in the past 3 years do count. Example: You are rated 1650, your best rating is 1950, but on another account you have achieved 2050 two years ago. You will not be eligible for the U1800 class (but might still be eligible for the U2000 class).

5. You are ineligible for ANY class prizes, if you have abused the rating system within the last 12 months.

On top of (2) through (5), note that ICC management reserves the right to declare any player ineligible for a certain class. Their reasoning need not be given, and there is no appeals process. We appreciate the cooperation of all participants in keeping this contest friendly, honorable, and running smoothly.

Cash prizes will be paid by check. Other payment methods may be possible, but require the approval of ICC.

Other Rules

Use of computer chess engines and databases while playing is strictly prohibited. Assistance from other players is also prohibited.

Only regular ICC accounts are allowed to win prizes in the tournament (free trials can join but not win prizes). During the tournament, a recent version of Blitzin, Dasher, ICC for Windows or ICC for Mac must be used. A player must not enter the tournament on more than one handle, or risk being forfeited on both handles. As the real names of the finalists will be made public, players who own free GM/WGM/IM/WIM accounts on ICC are required to use their public handles in this tournament, as opposed to playing with anonymous accounts.

ICC reserves the right to use image and name of winner(s) from their online events for publicity purposes.

The ICC tournament directors may at their discretion make a ruling on a particular game, eject a player from a tournament, or refuse to allow a player to join a tournament for any reason including but not limited to: failure to show up on time or to start a game on time, concern that the player's internet connection is not reliable enough for the game to finish in a timely manner, suspicion of chess computer use, suspicion that a player is receiving assistance, suspicion that a player has used multiple accounts during the tournament, or the fact that this player has been caught violating ICC rules in the past.

Participants are expected to use the same computer during the whole tournament.

In case a player is disqualified from the tournament, the ICC tournament directors can, at their discretion, rule that the game of that player in the running round is lost for him, and won for his opponent. However, results by that player in prior rounds will not be reverted.