1st-Ever ChessKid Speed Chess Championship Of India Starts Next Week
Kid don't often get to meet their heroes, until now.
ChessKid.com, the official scholastic extension of Chess.com, has announced the inaugural ChessKid Speed Chess Championship of India to begin January 15-19.
Ten winning ChessKids will get quite a prize: the opportunity to meet national hero and the five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand.
The event is a continuation of the partnership between Anand and ChessKid. Last summer, at a press conference in Anand's hometown of Chennai, the legendary grandmaster announced he would become ChessKid's chief mentor of India.
Any child aged 15 or younger (born on or after January 1, 2005) who both resides in India and goes to school in India is eligible to compete in the two-stage event.
From January 15-19 there will be four qualifier tournaments per day, beginning at 3:30 p.m. India Standard Time (IST) on ChessKid's "Fast Chess" (live) server. If a ChessKid finishes in the top five of any one of those events, then he/she qualifies for the championship stage.
In the championship stage, the top six finishers on that day will win the grand prize and punch their ticket to meet Anand.
If you are an Indian child and already have a ChessKid account, make sure to join this club so that you'll see the tournaments in the Fast Chess server. If you are an Indian child and do not yet have a ChessKid account, please create one with the "Sign Up" button on the official registration and rules page.
All games will be scrutinized by ChessKid/Chess.com's fair play protocols.
Note that in the case of ties for top placements in either the qualification or championship stages, ChessKid's normal tiebreak methods will be used. Also, if a child finishes in the top five in more than one qualifier, no special benefit is derived, nor will qualification "drop down" to the sixth-place finisher.
In addition to the six ChessKids winning a Vishy meeting after the championship stage, four other lucky Indian ChessKids will be chosen at random to attend. To be eligible for that lottery, you must be a ChessKid gold member and you must have completed all of the games of one qualifier.
All winners will be contacted by email, so make sure your ChessKid account has a valid email address associated with it.
The date of the championship event and of the Anand meeting are both to be determined. A nice bonus for the 10 winning ChessKids: You get to bring one parent with you for the occasion, and the prize includes airfare for both of you!
The gathering with Anand will likely be in Chennai and will include games and instruction with India's most famous chess player. Anand was India's first-ever GM, first world junior champion and first world champion...but it remains to be seen who will become first-ever ChessKid Speed Chess Champion of India. Good luck to everyone!
The full rules of the event can be found here.
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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.
