Win A Ticket To The Bobby Fischer Memorial

By playing in the first Chess.com Chess960 Championship on January 4 you can win a ticket to the Bobby Fischer Memorial in March in Reykjavik and play in the Chess960 tournament that will be held on Fischer's birthday.

The Reykjavik Open is a strong, annual open tournament held in the beautiful Harpa concert hall along the Reykjavik harbor. The tournament is also known for its many side events, such as a blitz tournament, a pub quiz and, of course the Golden Circle Tour that visits some of Iceland's stunning natural phenomena.

On the occasion of what would have been Bobby Fischer's 75th birthday, on March 9, next year's Reykjavik Open has been renamed to the Bobby Fischer Memorial. The schedule now includes a rest day on March 9 when a Fischerrandom (Chess960) tournament will be played.

This "Fischer Random Cup" will be a nine-round Swiss with a time control of 10 minutes + three-second increment per move. The prize fund is €5,350 ($6,383) with a first prize of €2,000 ($2,386).

The Chess.com team loves Chess960, and we know the organizers well since we've provided the live broadcast of the tournament for several years now. So, we decided to join forces and organize a Chess960 tournament that is closely connected to the Fischer Memorial.

The winner of the Chess.com Chess960 Championship will have his or her flight plus three hotel nights and entry to the Fischerrandom tournament on  March 9 covered!

Other prizes will include Chess.com Diamond and Gold memberships, and copies of David Llada's recently-published photo book "The Thinkers."

Tournament details

The Chess.com Chess960 Championship will be held on January 4 at 10 a.m. Pacific. It's for titled players only.

It will be a nine-round Swiss with a time control of four minutes plus two seconds increment per move.

In case of a tie for first place between two players, the following tiebreak rules apply:

1. Mutual score
2. Median-Buchholz
3. Number of black games
4. Sonneborn-Berger

Prizes

• First prize: Flight to Reykjavik plus three hotel nights to participate in the Fischerrandom tournament on March 9
• $400 for second
• $250 for third
• $150 for fourth
• $75 for fifth
• 3 copies of David Llada's "The Thinkers" (given away during the live broadcast)

The tournament is open to any titled player. Just make sure you're logged in and join the tournament before starting time.

On a side note, some top grandmasters have expressed their interest in participating (without claiming the first prize) so that might make it even more interesting. We'll keep you posted.

The normal schedule for the Reykjavik Open is a 10-round Swiss. This year there will be nine rounds and because of Fischer's 75th birthday the participants can now also play Chess960 on the rest day. You might be playing there too!

2018 Reykjavik Open | Schedule

At the moment the list of participants includes former winners GM Abhijeet Gupta and GM Erwin l'Ami, while Gata Kamsky is the top seed for now. Also on the list are youngsters Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who will soon officially be the world's youngest grandmaster, and Nihal Sarin.

If you like Chess960 (Fischerrandom), save the date:  January 4, 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. New York, 7 p.m. Central Europe. The tournament will be streamed live with commentary on Chess.com/tv.