1st Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational
Metropolitan Chess in downtown Los Angeles will be holding a 9-RR FIDE Invitational over November 12th – 14th and 20th – 21st. The tournament is being sponsored by www.chess.com, LawyerFy, Fashion Business, Inc, Betty Bottom, and Hippie Chips.
The tournament is being directed by Michael Belcher and Hal Bogner is acting as the international FIDE arbiter. The event will be category 4 FIDE with a respectable FIDE average of 2334 between the 10 players. The norm seekers need 6.0 out of 9.0 to get an International Master norm.
The venue will be the California Market Center, located at 110 East Ninth Street, Los Angeles CA 90079. The time control for the main event will be 40/90 + G/30 with 30 second increment. All games will be relayed live on www.chess.com.
The first round is at 7:00 PM on the 12th of November. For the rest of the rounds, the round times are at 11:00 AM and 4:30 PM on the 13th, 14th, 20th, and 21st of November. Spectators are encouraged and welcome to come. Parking will be validated if you are leaving after 7:00 PM on weekend days. Upon arrival, ask for the chess tournament at the main desk in the lobby and you will be directed to the proper floor.
The player field will consist of 10 players, and the pairings are based on the Berger Pairing System. See crosstable and photos of all the participants below:
(1). Jouaquin Banawa. Photo Credit: Chris Roberts. (2). WFM Tatev Abrahamyan. Photo Credit: Chris Roberts. (3). IM Timothy Taylor. Photo Credit: Anonymous. (3). IM Enrico Sevillano. Photo Credit: Anthony Ong. (5). Ankit Gupta. Photo Credit: Anonymous. (6). IM Zhanibek Amanov. Photo Credit: Anthony Ong. (7). FM Joel Banawa. Photo Credit: Chris Roberts. (8). Roman Yankovsky. Photo Credit: Anonymous. (9). Konstantin Kavutskiy. Photo Credit: Chris Roberts. (10). FM Alexandre Kretchetov. Photo Credit: Chris Roberts.
The tournament will host several side events. On November 13th at 6:30 PM there will be a 5-DSS Blitz (G/5). On November 14th at 6:30 PM there will be a 5-SS Rapid (G/15). On November 20th at 6:30 PM there will be a 5-DSS Blitz (G/5). Please bring your own equipment.
On November 21st starting at 4:30 PM, Grandmaster Melikset Khachiyan will be giving a live commentary on the 9th round of the Metropolitan FIDE Invitational. This commentary is free and open to the public. Also, complimentary refreshments and snacks will be provided to attendees of the commentary. Space is limited, so please notify Michael Belcher at td@chess.com in advance by e-mail if you wish to attend. This commentary will also be broadcast live on www.chess.com/tv
