Welcome to Riga Technical University Open

 

After two successful years of Riga Technical University Open it is my pleasure to announce the third edition of the International chess festival. The festival will take place on August 5-11 at the main building of the Riga Technical University located in the heart of Riga – the Old Town – Kalku street 1. The second year made the festival to be the largest and strongest classical chess tournament in Baltic states. The biggest names of the festival were GM Daniel Fridman, GM Jaan Ehlvest and GM Alberto David. GM Alexei Shirov participated in the blitz tournament. The festival gathered 273 participants from 27 countries. 150 of them played in the grandmaster tournament, including 17 GMs and 12 IMs.

We continue to improve the festival to make it bigger and stronger each year. The main change for grandmasters is the increase of the prize fund to 11 000 EUR (7 700 LVL) with the first prize of the tournament A of 2000 EUR. While the most important change for amateurs is introduction of the third tournament of classical chess. The tournament A will remain as it is. The tournament B will be Riga Open championship for players with ELO below 2100 or without ELO. It will be played with the same schedule as tournament A (7 days, 9 rounds). The tournament C will be played with shorter time limit (60 min + 30 sec) in 4 days and 7 rounds. It will be open for players with ELO below 2200 or without ELO. It is intended for players who can not afford to spend the whole week at the chess board. All three tournaments will be ELO rated.

On behalf of the organizers I would like to invite all chess players to participate in the Riga Technical University Open and all together develop the biggest tournament of classical chess in Baltic States! Hope to see you in Riga!

Tournament director,
IO Egons Lavendelis

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