Millionaire Chess Partners With Chess.com, Kasparov Chess Foundation For Satellite Events
The second edition of Millionaire Chess will return to Las Vegas from October 8-12, 2015 and now there are newer and cheaper ways to play for the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize fund.
Organizers GM Maurice Ashley and Amy Lee have adopted "satellite" events, similar to large poker tournaments, whereby a chess player can win his spot in a reduced entry fee event. Three of those satellite tournaments will take place in Africa, thanks to a partnership with Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa (KFCA), and at least one of those satellites will take place here on Chess.com.
In addition, today is the final day for one of the "early bird" reduced entry fees that are offered. Instead of the "normal" registration price of $1000 USD, if you enter by today at 11:59 PST you'll save 12 percent ($880), up to the first 500 players. According to their web site, currently 223 players have taken advantage of this pricing (including top ten GMs Hikaru Nakamura and defending champion Wesley So).
An astute eye will notice that Chess.com's own Vice President of Professional Relations, IM Danny Rensch, has also thrown his hat in the ring.
Back to the satellite events, according to a press release, the three in Africa will be hosted in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya "before the end of August 2015." You can keep up to date with information here.
"Millionaire Chess is thrilled to be working with the KFCA to support their mission of bringing exciting opportunities to players in Africa," Ashley said. "We believe that events such as this are essential to raising the level of chess awareness worldwide."
GM Garry Kasparov called it "an amazing opportunity to players in Africa."
If you can't make it to the world's second largest continent, you can also qualify for an entry into Millionaire Chess 2 right here on Chess.com. As part of the Titled Player Tuesday series, Chess.com will award one winner an entry into the event (that represents twice the value of the normal first prize of $500). The exact month for this award is to be determined. The next three Titled Player Tuesday events will be February 24, March 3 (as the event transitions to its new home on the first Tuesday of the month) and April 7.
The partnership with Millionaire Chess will expand further. Ashley will record videos with highlights from last year's event and Chess.com will have an on-site presence in Las Vegas for the second edition.
The first Millionaire Chess took place in Las Vegas in October 2014. A field of 561 players from 44 countries competed.
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Mike Klein began playing chess at the age of four in Charlotte, NC. In 1986, he lost to Josh Waitzkin at the National Championship featured in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer." A year later, Mike became the youngest member of the very first All-America Chess Team, and was on the team a total of eight times. In 1988, he won the K-3 National Championship, and eventually became North Carolina's youngest-ever master. In 1996, he won clear first for under-2250 players in the top section of the World Open. Mike has taught chess full-time for a dozen years in New York City and Charlotte, with his students and teams winning many national championships. He now works at Chess.com as a Senior Journalist and at ChessKid.com as the Chief Chess Officer. In 2012, 2015, and 2018, he was awarded Chess Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America. He has also previously won other awards from the CJA such as Best Tournament Report, and also several writing awards for mainstream newspapers. His chess writing and personal travels have now brought him to more than 85 countries.
