Today: ChessKid India's Speed Chess Championship Finals With Anand Cameo Appearance
The Chesskid Speed Chess Championship of India finals will be held on Friday, March 13.
As spooky as Friday the 13th might sound, six lucky kids will be winning the grand prize of a paid trip to a Meet & Greet with Indian superstar GM Viswanathan Anand.
**Surprise Alert**
— ChessKid India (@ChesskidIndia) March 13, 2020
We are glad to announce two surprises for today's finals! 🏆
A cameo appearance from @vishy64theking and some giveaway hats! 🎩
You’ll have to watch to find out when though! 😉
Catch us LIVE at 7pm IST on https://t.co/OFTK1viVbh pic.twitter.com/D1U9120CFv
Five-time world champion Anand has been ChessKid's Chief Mentor of India since July 2019. Anand has been a huge influence for all chess players in India (including yours truly!) and this unique prize will be a lifetime memory for all kids.
The event can be followed on Chess.com/TV. ChessKid's Chief Chess Officer FM Mike Klein and ChessKid India's Director of Marketing and Ops, IM Rakesh Kulkarni will be commentators. You can follow all the live-action at 7 p.m. India Standard Time, 5:30 am Pacific, 8:30 am Eastern and 2:30 pm Central Europe.
ChessKid earlier conducted the preliminary stage of the championship from January 15 till 19, 2020.
More than 500 kids participated in the qualifiers. Each day consisted of four qualifiers and the top-five finishers of every qualifier will be taking part in Friday's finals.
Finals Format:
The finals will be held on the ChessKid Fast Chess live server. The event is a nine-round open Swiss. The top-six finishers after nine rounds will punch their ticket to meet Anand. The time control is 5+1 (five minutes plus one-second increment per move) which is the same as the qualifiers in January.
Date and time:
On Friday, March 13, The action begins at 7 p.m. local time in India. ChessKid's Chief Chess Officer FM Mike Klein and ChessKid India's Director of Marketing and Ops IM Rakesh Kulkarni will be commentators. You can follow all the live-action on Chess.com/TV at 7 p.m. India Standard Time, 5:30 am Pacific, 8:30 am Eastern and 2:30 pm Central Europe.
Grand Prize:
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 Anand meeting is yet 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.
Rakesh Kulkarni is the Director of Indian Social Media for Chess.com and a correspondent on chess in India.
Rakesh has earned the International Master title and is a former Commonwealth Blitz Champion and a Commonwealth Bronze medallist in the junior category. Rakesh has a Masters of Commerce degree in Management & Business administration. He now is a professional chess player and trains young talents across the globe on chess.com
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