Millionaire Chess was a company which organised the Millionaire Chess Open chess tournament. The tournament was associated with grandmaster Maurice Ashley. [1] The 2014 iteration of the tournament featured a $1,000,000 prize fund, the largest for an open tournament at the time. [2] Low participation, with 400 out of a desired 1000 partipants, and an inability to cover the costs of the competition, led to the third iteration in 2016 being the last running of the tournament. [1] [3]
The first Millionaire Chess Open took place from October 9–13, 2014 and was held at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. [4] The tournament consisted of six sections, Open, Under 2200, Under 2000, Under 1800, Under 1600, and Under 1400. Unrated and provisionally rated players (players with less than 26 lifetime games in any recognized rating system) were only allowed in the Open and U2200 sections. The tournament used players highest rating ever achieved starting from December 1, 2013, the date in which Millionaire #1 was announced, in order to prevent sandbagging. The winner of the Open section and recipient of the highest prize of $100,000 was Grandmaster Wesley So, who defeated Grandmaster Ray Robson during the final round of Millionaire Monday. [5] The third-place winner was Yu Yangyi who defeated compatriot Zhou Jianchao in the third place playoff. The prize fund also consisted of $40,000 for the 1st-place finishers in the U2200, U2000, U1800, and U1600 sections and $24,000 for the U1400 section. [6]
The second edition of the tournament took place from 8–12 October 2015 at the same location. [7] The second edition changed the structure slightly. The U1400 and U1600 sections were merged into one and an unrated/provisional section was added. Players had to have played 50 games under a recognized rating system to play in any section other than the Open and unrated/provisional sections. Player's highest rating from December 1, 2013, and the time they registered was used to prevent sandbagging. The winner of the Open section and recipient of the highest prize of $100,000 was grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura who defeated grandmaster Lê Quang Liêm in the final round of Millionaire Monday. The third-place winner was Yu Yangyi once more after defeating Aleksandr Lenderman in the third place playoff.
On February 1, 2016, it was announced that the third edition of the tournament would take place from October 6–11 at Harrah's Resort in Atlantic City. The winner of the Open section and recipient of the highest prize of $30,000 was grandmaster Dariusz Świercz who defeated grandmaster Gawain Jones in the final round of Millionaire Monday. [8] This also rendered as the last event of Millionaire Chess Open. [9]
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The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE).
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John Denis Martin Nunn is an English chess grandmaster, a three-time world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician. He is one of England's strongest chess players and was formerly in the world's top ten.
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Wesley Barbossa So is a Filipino and American chess grandmaster and three-time U.S. Chess Champion. He is also a three-time Philippine Chess Champion. On the March 2017 FIDE rating list, he was ranked number two in the world and had an Elo rating of 2822, making him the fifth-highest-rated player in history.
Fabiano Luigi Caruana is an Italian and American chess grandmaster who is the reigning three-time United States Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2844, Caruana is the third-highest-rated player in history.
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Dariusz Świercz is a Polish-American chess player playing for the United States. He was the youngest Polish player of all time to qualify for the title Grandmaster; he was 14 years and seven months when he achieved this title in 2009. In 2018 he switched his national federation to the United States.
The 41st Chess Olympiad, organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, was an international team chess event that took place in Tromsø, Norway, between 1–14 August 2014. The organiser was Chess Olympiad Tromsø 2014 AS on behalf of FIDE.
The Saint Louis Chess Club is a chess club located in the Central West End in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Opened on July 17, 2008, it contained a tournament hall and a basement broadcast studio before its expansion began. On September 19, 2022, all Club operations temporarily moved to the adjacent space that housed the original incarnation of the chess-themed Kingside Diner. All tournaments in the interim are held at 308 N Euclid Ave, the old Kingside Diner space, the basement of The Chase Park Plaza Hotel, Il Monastero at Saint Louis University, or the World Chess Hall of Fame.
Wei Yi is a Chinese chess grandmaster.
Mark van der Werf is a Dutch chess player.
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