£50,000 1st Prize At Chess.com Isle Of Man Tournament
The 2017 Chess.com Isle Of Man tournament will have a first prize of £50,000. Among the participants are Wesley So, Vladimir Kramnik, Vishy Anand and Hikaru Nakamura. And you can win a ticket to go there too!
It will be an even stronger edition than last year, with an even higher prize fund. The winner of the 2017 Chess.com Isle Of Man tournament will take home a staggering 50,000 pounds sterling (€57,000; $64,000).
Pavel Eljanov, last year's winner, will return to defend his title. | Photo Mike Klein.
Equally impressive is the list of participants. Just look at the top 20 of currently registered players:
2017 Chess.com Isle of Man | Top 20 Participants
| # | Fed | Title | Name | Rtg |
| 1 | GM | So, Wesley | 2822 | |
| 2 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2817 | |
| 3 | GM | Kramnik, Vladimir | 2811 | |
| 4 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2803 | |
| 5 | GM | Nakamura, Hikaru | 2793 | |
| 6 | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | 2786 | |
| 7 | GM | Adams, Michael | 2761 | |
| 8 | GM | Eljanov, Pavel | 2751 | |
| 9 | GM | Gelfand, Boris | 2724 | |
| 10 | GM | Jobava, Baadur | 2712 | |
| 11 | GM | Vallejo Pons, Francisco | 2710 | |
| 12 | GM | Naiditsch, Arkadij | 2702 | |
| 13 | GM | Rodshtein, Maxim | 2701 | |
| 14 | GM | Leko, Peter | 2699 | |
| 15 | GM | Rapport, Richard | 2696 | |
| 16 | GM | Shirov, Alexei | 2693 | |
| 17 | GM | Howell, David | 2684 | |
| 18 | GM | Short, Nigel D | 2683 | |
| 19 | GM | Movsesian, Sergei | 2677 | |
| 20 | GM | Jones, Gawain C B | 2671 |
The participants list also includes top female players GMs Hou Yifan and Ju Wenjun, and Dutch chess legend Jan Timman will be playing as well.
Note that participation of the top GMs is subject to their progress in the FIDE World Cup. The final coincides with the Isle of Man tournament, so players who reach the final will have to cancel their participation.
The Isle of Man might sound far away in terms of distance and expenses. However, in the next Titled Tuesday, on June 6, Chess.com is giving away two tickets to the tournament. The top male and top female will get their airfare and other costs paid to play at Isle of Man!
Since last year the tournament is sponsored by Chess.com, along with the Scheinberg family. It is held once again in the Villa Marina, the "island's most prestigious venue" according to Manx native and Isle of Man International Chess Committee Chairman Alan Ormsby.
The Villa Marina, a grand venue for chess. | Photo Fiona Steil-Antoni.
The dates are Saturday September 23 to Sunday October 1. For the Masters there will be nine rounds, starting 1.30pm daily (12 Noon for round 9). There are also "Major" and "Minor" tournaments that run seven rounds.
As said, the first price is £50,000 and then it continues with second £25,000; third £12,500; fourth £6,250; fifth £4,000; sixth £3,500; seventh £3,000; eighth £2,500; ninth £2,000; and tenth £1,500. On top of that there are rating prizes and ladies' awards.
GM Fabiano Caruana and IM Lawrence Trent discussing where GM Michael Adams could have improved his play, last year. | Photo Mike Klein.
For anyone not attending the event there's still very much to enjoy. Once again Chess.com will provide a daily live broadcast, hosted by frequent Chess.com/TV commentator GM Simon Williams and experienced on-air personality WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni. Chess.com will be further represented by several staff members for daily reports and video interviews with players.
"We want top players and fans to think of the Isle of Man as one of the premier Swiss events of the year," said Chess.com vice president IM Danny Rensch last year. The tournament seems to have become that already.
Find all information about Titled Tuesday here. As mentioned above, the top male and top female will get their airfare and other costs paid by Chess.com to play at Isle of Man!
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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